At this point.
*Clack.*
Tsubaki casually picked up a small magic stone dropped by a War Shadow and tossed it, tracing an arc through the air.
Inaba Tsukiyo lightly raised her hand.
Her two slender fingers caught it with precision.
She didn't even turn her head.
"..."
Seeing this, Tsubaki couldn't help but scratch her messy long hair, the smile at the corners of her mouth completely uncontrollable.
"Speaking of which."
"I'm really a bit curious about where Lord Haimo dug up a bunch of freaks like you."
"But..."
"Since you're so capable, I can't keep treating you like rookies entering the Dungeon for the first time."
"I originally only planned to take you around the floors above the tenth to get used to the environment."
"But now it seems..."
Tsubaki's lips curled into a grin.
"That level clearly isn't enough to satisfy you little monsters."
"In that case."
"I might as well take you further down to play with something more decent."
...
After Tsubaki finished speaking...
...the team set off once again.
The pace of their advance this time was significantly faster than before.
And because they were being so blatant, with no intention of hiding their tracks...
...they had just reached the 7th floor...
...when trouble...
...arrived.
*Rustle rustle—*
A scalp-numbing sound of dense crawling echoed from the shadows deep within the passage.
Immediately after...
...over a dozen pairs of crimson compound eyes lit up in the passage.
Red carapaces gleamed with a metallic luster, and sharp scythe-like forelimbs swung through the air, making "clack clack" sounds.
—Killer Ants.
They were in a swarm, at least a dozen of them.
These monsters not only had hard carapaces that could even chip an ordinary iron sword...
...but once surrounded, their relentless madness was enough to instantly wipe out an unprepared Lv.1 party.
They were troublesome creatures that only appeared after the seventh floor.
But...
...the one leading the way was the Lv.5 Tsubaki.
Especially after witnessing the strength of Kirukiru Amou, Inaba Tsukiyo, and the others along the way.
Tsubaki wasn't really worried about any accidents occurring.
She just habitually wanted to fulfill her duties as leader by reminding the others that the Killer Ants' weak points were at their joints.
"..."
However...
...before Tsubaki could speak...
...a black figure charged ahead.
Unsurprisingly...
...it was Kirukiru Amou.
She didn't have the slightest intention of slowing down.
Facing the scythe-wielding Killer Ants...
...she lowered her center of gravity instead.
And slammed into them head-on!
"Clang!"
A Killer Ant's scythe slashed hard against her shoulder.
Sparks flew.
But her skin only showed a faint red mark.
"Too weak."
Kirukiru Amou's lips curled into a wild smile.
In the next second...
...instead of retreating, she advanced.
Her fair palm suddenly transformed into a hand-blade.
With a whistle that tore through the air, she plunged it fiercely into a gap in the Killer Ant's hard carapace.
*Puchi!*
Brute force erupted.
She actually ripped the Killer Ant's head and half its thorax clean off!
After the Killer Ant died, it instantly turned into black ash.
Kirukiru Amou didn't even blink; instead, she lunged at the next one with even more excitement.
She was like a humanoid tyrannosaur in human skin.
"..."
Seeing this sight again...
...Tsubaki still found it exceptionally incredible.
After all, one must remember...
...she was still only Lv.1.
At just Lv.1, her body was already this tough, able to directly tank the scythes of Killer Ants that could even slice through rock...
If she were to achieve a [Feat] and complete her level up in the future...
...just imagining that scene was enough to give Tsubaki the chills.
Most likely...
...this girl would become even more of a monster than the monsters in the Dungeon.
Thinking of this, Tsubaki couldn't help but shake her head.
Then she lifted her foot.
*Splat.*
A crisp sound.
As her foot landed, it was like squashing a ripe tomato.
A Killer Ant that had tried to sneak up and ambush Tsubaki from behind in the chaos...
...didn't even have time to squeeze its signature hiss out of its throat...
...before its entire head was instantly crushed by the heel of Tsubaki's heavy work boot, turning into a pile of black ash.
A fingernail-sized magic stone was left behind, rolling onto the ground with a *clink*.
Tsubaki naturally had no interest in such a tiny magic stone.
She continued to cross her arms, watching the scenes with great interest.
For now, it seemed these dozen or so Killer Ants, which would be lethal to an ordinary Adventurer party...
...were nothing more than whetstones for these little monsters.
...
Meanwhile...
...while the slaughter in the Dungeon was in full swing...
...on the surface of Orario...
...the midday sun was just right, casting a long shadow from the towering Babel.
In contrast to that,
was Lord Heimdall's slightly helpless face.
He was holding the silver-white long spear he had conveniently taken from Hephaestus's place, wandering aimlessly on the stone-paved road of North Street.
Normally,
since he had left his Familia to Tsubaki, that reliable Lv.5, to lead their training, as a primary god, seeing his Familia begin to develop steadily, he should have been able to take advantage of this interval to enjoy the local customs of Orario, which would have been a pleasant thing.
However,
the current situation was a bit subtle.
"..."
*Clatter—*
Lord Heimdall took a step forward, holding the silver-white long spear he had taken from the Hephaestus Familia.
The originally bustling crowd,
in the places where he walked, split apart like Moses parting the sea, instantly and uniformly retreating to both sides, forcibly making a three-meter-wide path for him.
No one dared to approach.
The Adventurers on the roadside were all as silent as cicadas in winter, with a hint of strange curiosity as if they were watching a spectacle.
This was not because Lord Heimdall was holding a spear.
After all, in Orario, Adventurers carrying weapons on the street were as numerous as cow hairs.
There was no other reason,
than the person following behind Lord Heimdall.
Finally,
after turning into an alley to no avail,
Lord Heimdall could bear it no longer, sighed, and stopped his pace.
Then he turned around.
"I say..."
"Captain Shakti."
"You've been following me for five streets now; aren't you tired?"
Now,
standing five paces behind Lord Heimdall was an extremely eye-catching adult woman.
She had short dark-blue hair and refined, upright features, exuding a textbook-standard aura of dignified righteousness.
She was tall and slender, and even though she wore tightly-fitted standard light armor, it could not hide her near-perfect body curves.
—The Captain of the Ganesha Familia, Lv.5.
—The "staff of the elephant god," Shakti Falma.
As the head of the military police responsible for maintaining public order in all of Orario,
Shakti's face had a deterrent power in Orario that was practically comparable to a walking wanted poster.
Not only was she fully armed,
she even wore gauntlets.
Facing Lord Heimdall's questioning, Shakti's expression remained unchanged.
She bowed slightly, performing a standard etiquette, but her tone held no hint of backing down.
"Lord Heimdall."
"Please do not misunderstand."
"This was specifically instructed by Lord Ganesha."
"If Lord Heimdall appears in a densely populated area holding a weapon, to prevent accidents and also for Lord Heimdall's safety,"
"someone must be sent to guard you by your side."
"Guard?"
"It looks more like surveillance to me, doesn't it?"
"And even if it is protection, there's no need to make it look like you're escorting a prisoner, right?"
"People who don't know better would think I'm some terrorist planning to blow up Babel."
-------------------------------
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