CHAPTER 403: CHAPTER 403: PUSH LOKI TO THE FRONT

Bell descended the stairs and stepped into a brightly lit exit.

After leaving the cave-like passage, the entire floor suddenly opened up with a radiant glow—this was the 59th floor.

A floor shrouded in mystery, unseen even by the gods.

As an unexplored level, it resembled the 24th floor’s "Great Tree Labyrinth," with an Amazon-like forest teeming with dense vegetation. In the distance, he could even make out strange species, including towering mushrooms that stretched several stories high.

Yet, despite the forest’s vastness, it was eerily silent.

Even with his repeatedly enhanced hearing, Bell could only catch faint traces of sound. Perhaps it was due to the sheer openness of this level, or maybe it was because there were hardly any monsters present.

’The scents are all over the place, but there aren’t many sounds.’

’Very little monster presence... Looks like most of them have already been used as nourishment for the Spirit. But I can barely sense even the Violas or the Virgas. Were they all sent deeper down to search for magic stones?’

On his way here, Bell hadn’t seen any trace of the Virgas or Violas. That only confirmed it—the Spirits were preparing to make their move on the monsters below the 59th floor.

The thought made Bell chuckle.

’Looks like I was right. The Dragon’s Roar must have affected the Spirits too. They’re probably holding back from touching the monsters below the 59th floor out of fear of a counterattack from Loki’s Familia. The moment Finn and the others spot those Violas or Virgas, they’ll likely wipe them out and charge straight for the 59th floor.’

By playing it this way, the expedition force wouldn’t know how far along the Spirit fetus had been nurtured. At the same time, it made Finn hesitate, not wanting to risk acting too soon.

But this stalemate wouldn’t last. That’s why the Violas and Virgas were being redirected to deeper levels—to harvest magic stones from stronger monsters and use them to feed the "Spirit fetus."

’This situation is way more stable than I expected.’

Still, after that brief bit of satisfaction, Bell needed to consider the next steps—especially what to do if those harvested magic stones turned out to be insufficient.

His eyes shifted to the center of the floor. The life force emanating from there was so familiar, it was impossible not to sense it. That was where the "Spirit fetus" was located.

Yet Bell made no move to approach it. This floor needed to be thoroughly prepared first.

What Bell hated most were unexpected events—and among them, sudden intrusions were the most frequent. To prevent that, the entire level needed to be properly secured.

But before doing that, he had to check in with Hestia.

"Loki-sama, you can go speak with Hermes-sama now. I’m not planning to make a move on the Spirit just yet. They’ve already sent the Violas and Virgas deeper into the Dungeon to collect magic stones. Until they return, I won’t take any action."

Bell intended to swoop in when the timing was right. Naturally, that meant he wouldn’t interfere with the Spirit fetus before it had been fully nourished. If he had to make all the arrangements himself, he wouldn’t have time to return to camp.

Before the official start of this campaign, Bell didn’t want Finn and the others to realize he was already involved behind the scenes.

What Cassandra could see was only a small part of it—and she wasn’t the one executing this phase of the operation. Even if some things were exposed, he could brush them off using the excuse that "the gods wanted to see the fight."

But if he wasn’t seen at camp before the battle began, it’d be too easy for people to put the pieces together.

And Bell couldn’t let that happen.

Otherwise, why act at this particular moment?

...

"Me again?"

Loki pointed at herself, clearly annoyed. She really didn’t want to go out looking for that messenger right now. Based on her understanding of him, that guy was definitely messing around in the rebuilt Pleasure District.

"Who else do you think is suitable? My Bell-kun is still down in the Dungeon. Most of Hephaestus’s children are with your expedition team down there too. Only your Familia still has plenty of kids back at home, right?"

"What about Hephaestus? Doesn’t she have some children too?"

"Please! Hephaestus runs a production Familia—who’s going to man her shop or fulfill those commissions if everyone leaves?"

As Hestia explained, Hephaestus just shrugged helplessly, clearly unable to help.

Her Familia’s business wouldn’t just stop for an expedition. Hephaestus had already planned for this and left behind the less-skilled children. Some were simply not skilled enough to be useful in the expedition, and others were needed to manage the day-to-day commissions.

Hestia’s Familia was even simpler—only Bell Cranel. With nightfall approaching, it wouldn’t be right for a Familia God to be out running errands.

After thinking it through, it was clear that only Loki’s Familia had children available for the task. Naturally, the job of finding Hermes ended up falling on Loki.

Understanding the situation, Loki looked speechless. But she also realized that right now, the most suitable choice really was for her to send someone to find Hermes.

"Seriously, all the errands land on me..."

Grumbling under her breath, Loki still got ready to take action. This time, things had gotten far too serious. Even Ouranos needed the messenger to pass the word along. She couldn’t afford to act on a whim.

And the support from Ouranos’s side was a big help for them.

Suddenly, a spatial rift tore open in front of Loki.

A familiar hand reached out from the rift and tossed a rune stone toward her.

Startled, Loki quickly caught it with both hands. Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a voice came through from the other side of the screen.

"This is the recording I made. It contains my confrontation and conversation with the Black Dragon. You know how to use the Recording Crystal—show it to Hermes if necessary."

"Also, feel free to reveal part of your connection to us. Preferably through the passage in your room."

"...So you’re just trying to shove me out in front, huh?!"

Loki immediately got what this kid was planning. He wanted her to reveal her connection to them—without exposing the shorty’s connection to Hephaestus. This was clearly pushing her to the front lines.

Then the voice came again from the screen.

"Yes."