"Achoo!"
Originally, when the bell marking noon rang out, Renjiro had planned to make a cool, dramatic entrance right away.
But then…
"Damn it, who's jealous of my good looks this time?"
One sneeze, one interruption…
"That guy's over there!"
"Grab him, quick!"
"Hahaha, idiot! Like this, our Soma Familia wins for sure—!"
...
A group of misshapen rabble had barely rushed into the area when they spotted Renjiro standing flamboyantly atop a collapsed tower, arms crossed.
In an instant, vicious grins spread across their faces as they charged straight at him.
The victory condition of this War Game was simple for the Soma Familia—within the next three hours, as long as any member directly touched the body of Renjiro, Bell, or Liliruca, they would win.
So right now…
"Good thing it's not like that problem children rule where 'just being seen counts as a loss.'"
Otherwise…
Renjiro swept his gaze around, a wicked smile creeping onto his face.
"I wouldn't just be hitting hard—I'd have to go for the kill."
The very next moment—
[—Play around.]
An ultra-short chant was completed.
In a single instant, as a magic circle in the shape of a Celtic Trinity Knot flared beneath Renjiro's feet, he lifted his right leg and stomped down with full force—
"BOOM~"
The collapsed tower ruins shattered instantly. Smoke and dust billowed outward, spreading rapidly in all directions.
Seizing that moment—
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh~"
Three identical figures split apart, dashing off at high speed in three different directions.
For a moment…
"I… you… that was Lv.3?"
Almost the instant Renjiro's first kick landed, a werewolf youth inside the Twilight Manor stared wide-eyed at the collapsing tower.
That kick alone was already close to his own strength back when he was Lv.4—no, even nearing Lv.5.
Ever since becoming a First-Class Adventurer, the werewolf named Bete Loga had grown increasingly fond of shoving his hands into his pockets and shattering the ground with a single kick to drive away fodder enemies.
It made him look as if he were constantly possessed by some alternate-world counterpart who loved laughing wildly while making exaggerated faces and playing with vectors.
Beside him…
"He's amazing.."
Tiona's eyes sparkled.
"That just now… was that a clone?"
"Strictly speaking, it should be phantom magic,"
the well-read Riveria explained calmly.
"An illusion created through an ultra-short chant, identical in appearance to the caster. It has no physical substance… but it's more than enough to confuse those Soma Familia adventurers."
Indeed, just as the mama had said—
"That guy can split himself?!"
In the western district, inside the battlefield, the Soma Familia's lower-class adventurers panicked.
They froze for a moment…
"Don't panic! The target just went from one to three."
"Yeah! We've got over a hundred people. Even if the enemy multiplied tenfold, we'd still have the numbers!"
That wasn't wrong.
And it was obvious that from the very beginning, the Soma Familia hadn't taken Bell or Lili seriously at all.
Most likely following Zanis's orders—as long as we catch that guy, Renjiro, victory is guaranteed.
And also…
"It's just a game of tag. It won't be that dangerous."
"Just go all out and grab them."
That was exactly how Zanis had instructed his members before the War Game began.
Without a doubt, after Renjiro had deliberately announced at the Hostess of Fertility tavern that morning that he planned to "cause a big scene," anyone with half a brain should have known he wouldn't play by the rules.
Yet Zanis still arranged things this way…
It could only mean one thing—he treated his own members purely as chess pieces.
"You'll pay for your arrogance, Captain of the Frigg Familia…."
Zanis thought coldly.
The slick, center-parted man with glasses didn't move right away.
He stood steadily at the very edge, in no hurry at all to join this game of hide-and-seek.
So much so that he didn't even notice—
[Your wound is mine. My wound is mine—]
Nearby, Liliruca—who was highly proficient in transformation magic—was actually hiding not far from Zanis's position.
She had originally planned to follow Renjiro's prior arrangement and immediately step out of bounds to forfeit.
But some idiot never checked his surroundings, allowing Lili to quietly activate the Cinder Ella transformation and complete her disguise right away.
As for a certain rabbit boy…
"Catch that guy!"
"Don't let him run!"
...
"Ahhh— I'm s—so—rry!"
A question: purely in terms of adventurer aptitude, what was Bell best at in the early stages?
Answer: Running away.
Yes. This was someone who, even before awakening the Liaris Freese skill, could still truly scramble and survive for several minutes against a Minotaur as a complete rookie.
Now, under Razor's protection, Bell could already dive into the Dungeon's seventh floor after just three days.
And since Razor had received Renjiro's instructions, he generally wouldn't intervene—
This was entirely about training Bell and Lili.
With such an optimal growth environment, combined with Bell's terrifying rate of development, placing him in front of a pile of Lv.1s from the Soma Familia…
Well—he was basically a cheat character.
The current situation was this: even while strictly following Renjiro's plan and only moving around the edge, Bell had unintentionally toyed with a whole group of Soma Familia's lower-class adventurers.
So much so that—
"Bell-kun's Agility stat is probably going to skyrocket today,"
Syr (Frigg) thought with a squinting smile from outside the battlefield.
And at that very moment—
"BOOM~"
At the center, the big scene Renjiro had foretold finally arrived.
At first, it was that same ghostly fireball spell—like a miniature sun—that many Soma Familia members had once seen with their own eyes at their base gate.
When it slammed down, even without compression or focused power, the surging heatwave still sent numerous lower-class adventurers flying.
And even worse—
[In the sky of a now distant forest. Infinite stars scattered in the endless night sky.…]
While moving at high speed, Renjiro's next spell had already entered its chanting phase.
[Respond to my foolish voice, give me now divine protection of starfire. Give the mercy of light to the one that abandoned you.…]
The Soma Familia wasn't made up entirely of cowards.
They were adventurers who had fought and struggled in the Dungeon for years. Even if most of them would never achieve a feat, at the very least—they still dared to gamble.
Or rather, for the sake of the divine wine personally brewed by their patron god Soma, they had already gone mad.
It was precisely this twisted madness—
"If we lose this War Game, you'll never drink Soma-sama's divine wine again."
"Because Soma-sama will likely be sent back to the heavens."
Zanis's manipulative pre-battle speech once again drove most of his chess pieces into hysteria.
And yet—
"Struggle and work for me, you idiots."
Renjiro thought coldly.
He was thinking far beyond that fool.
This War Game—he would not lose.
And this wasn't arrogance. Before acting so seemingly reckless, all the necessary contingencies had already been prepared to perfection.
Based on Renjiro's predictions, unless the Soma Familia was hiding a Lv.9, there was no way he could lose.
Even with a Lv.9, it would merely be possible for them to win.
After all—with Paimon's time-stop as insurance, he could act as he pleased.
With that as the premise—
"In the future, Diona will inevitably take over as the captain of the Soma Familia."
"So before that, I might as well use this opportunity to raise the overall quality of its members."
Yes.
Today, Renjiro himself was the feat of the entire Soma Familia.
He was paving the road for the cat.
And this… was merely one of his objectives in participating in this War Game.
The next instant—
[Come, wandering wind, the wandering traveler…]
The ultra-long chant reached its final stage as Renjiro used the wind's momentum to leap high into the air.
[Cross the sky and run through the wilderness, run faster than anything else. Imbue the light of stardust and destroy the enemy—]
A brilliant white light flared within the black-haired youth's eyes.
Jade-colored energy began to surface around his body.
Finally—
[LUMINOUS WIND!!!]
A wide-area annihilation spell combining both Light and Wind attributes—
Dense energy spheres, like countless light-aspected Rasengans, formed a bullet-hell barrage as they spread and rained downward.
"BOOM BOOM BOOM~"
A relentless carpet bombing.
"Waaaaaahhh!!!"
The screams of Soma Familia members rose and fell without end.
"Waaaaaahhh!!!"
Even a certain blue-ribbon goddess outside the battlefield clutched her head and screamed along with them.
…..
Completed version available on [P]atreon.[c]om/Veltoria [remove brackets]