Boom-
------------------------
With a deafening boom that shook the entire passage, the sound slammed into her ears.
Tiona's body, bruised and purple, covered in wounds that cut to the bone, suddenly stirred. In her eyes, dull with despair only moments ago, flashed a glimmer of light. It was... the light of hope!
"The gate's opening!"
Tiona toward the massive stone gate slowly rising behind her, face lighting up with pure joy.
But the reaction was completely different for the monster horde and the assassins of the Evilus who had driven them into the corner. Even those killers, trained to feel nothing, to know neither fear nor hesitation, were not mindless. Instinctive wariness was etched into their bones.
Unlike them, the rampaging monsters were devoid of reason. Even as the battlefield shifted, they charged ahead just as before, massive bodies and natural weapons lashing out at Tiona in one last, furious assault.
"Flame Bolt, One!"
BOOM...
The gate had not yet fully opened when a blazing orange surge, like a carpet woven of fire, erupted from beyond it.
With his unmatched magic power at level 6 and the amplification of his staff, even a quick-cast spell of the lowest class carried destructive might on par with a long-chant spell of level 4 in Fron's hands!
Blinding light burst forth, roaring with overwhelming force. The beam tore through the gate and, as expected, engulfed the horde of monsters and several unlucky Evilus assassins who failed to react in time, swallowing them in a sea of flame so hot the air itself wavered.
Crackle, hiss.
Everyone, Tiona included, stared blankly at the inferno burning across the floor, minds blank for a heartbeat.
The abrupt swing from despair to hope, the surge of emotion, it was almost too much to take in.
"That spell... could it be...?"
One of the adventurers, the first to recover, turned sharply toward the rising gate, eyes wide with excitement.
"It's... Flame Bolt! It's Fron's magic!"
"Then that means..."
"It's Fron! We're saved!"
Tiona blinked. Even trapped on the edge of death, the ever-bright, ever-spirited girl showed no fear. And when that familiar voice rang out from beyond the door, along with the dazzling surge of magic light, she smiled again, the same radiant smile everyone knew so well.
"Tiona, I'm not too late, am I?"
With a metallic clank, the gate's mechanisms locked into place.
Beyond it stood Fron, golden-eyed and calm, with Anakitty, Raul, and Cruz at his side.
"Just in time! And as always, your timing's cutting it close... cough, cough..."
Now that the gate no longer blocked the view, the condition of Tiona's team was clear for all to see. Their bodies were battered and bloodied, the passage strewn with carnage. Fron's golden eyes narrowed, his expression hardening.
"So it's you again, those damned assassins."
Across the burning fire, Fron's group and the enemy forces locked eyes.
"Be careful, Fron! Their weapons... there's something wrong with them!"
Dragging her injured body forward, Tiona stood beside him, her gaze cold and sharp.
But Fron and his comrades had already sensed it, the unnatural aura clinging to those weapons.
Anakitty stepped up, gently supporting Tiona's shoulders and letting her lean weakly against her. Her voice was soft, reassuring.
"Don't worry, Miss Tiona. We've already clashed with them before coming here. Their weapons are Cursed Tools. They carry a Curse enchantment.
That's why your wounds won't heal properly. Regular potions and healing magic won't work. Only purification-type healing spells or specialized antidote elixirs can counteract it.
I think you understand what that means, right?"
Tiona's heart jolted at Anakitty's words.
As a senior member of the Loki Familia, and one of Fron's closest battle companions, how could she not know of the strongest healing magic he had learned from Amid?
"I see... then that means... Fron is their natural nemesis!"
No sooner had she spoken than the golden-haired youth beside her blurred out of sight. The next instant, he was among the enemy ranks.
Shhk, shhk, shhk, shhk!
The tip of his staff glimmered with violet magic crystals, whirling and slicing through the air as lightning and flame erupted around him. Enemies fell like wheat before a scythe, cut down mercilessly by Fron's wrath.
Against a level 6 with broken-tier stats, those level 2 and 3 assassins were helpless. His strikes were too fast, too fierce. This wasn't a battle, it was slaughter.
Crack!
A hand shattered a mirror-like projection. In the flickering light, a veiled figure let out a low, mocking laugh.
"I underestimated you. I thought I could use this chance, throw out some bait, and wipe out that Loki Familia obstacle. Hmph... impressive as ever, Loki. No wonder you're so confident in your children, you've got quite the trump card."
The woman's face twisted in anger as she recalled the intelligence her subordinates had gathered on Fron Argon.
"No choice, then. Notify our partners. Lure them into that chamber. If he's their trump card, then we'll have our trump card meet his. I don't believe a mere level 6 can overturn the ituation against that one!"
"Yes, my lady."
Footsteps echoed through the chamber. As the magic stone lamps flickered, they illuminated the furious face of the goddess herself.
The hand that shattered the projection belonged to none other than Goddess Ishtar.
Her plans had been completely disrupted by Fron's arrival.
After all, the elaborate scheme, to use bait, lure the Loki Familia into the artificial labyrinth Knossos, and annihilate them, had been her doing.
And all of it traced back to the events in Melen.
Loki had uncovered her and Kali Familia's conspiracy, even locating the Evilus's smuggling routes. That discovery threw all of Ishtar's schemes against the Goddess Freya into disarray.
The Loki Familia already suspected her. If she dared move against the Freya Familia, Loki's people would intervene immediately.
Even with the trump cards in her possession, confident as she was in her strength, facing both Freya and Loki together was suicide.
Unacceptable. So she devised a new plan, strike first. Before Freya's faction caught wind of her plot, she would use her cards and the labyrinth of Knossos to destroy Loki Familia entirely.
But plans never keep up with reality. She had calculated everything, except that Loki's children had a trump card of their own, one beyond all her expectations.
That unpredictable variable... was the man named Fron Argon.