Hello again. Right on schedule, and I'm glad that I still can keep up despite many... distractions.

Well, stay hygienic out there, folks.

See you again in the afterword.


[X][X][X]


"Hmph!"

Deep into the darkness of night and thickness of surrounding mist, a man known by few as Dark Falz Elder stood straight atop a pile of rubble and decayed, mangled carcass. The debris he stood on had used to be a ship, gliding within the mist-covered plains with all the undead crews aboard. Now the ship was no more, and all the undead creatures had been slain by this man.

"Not too bad for picking myself up"

Elder looked at his aura-covered hand. His recent experience of being curbstomped by an ARKS who somehow could transform into the likeness of his Falz Hunar form had become a blessing in disguise. He felt that his limits had been broken, and now he could possibly reach into an untapped potential. But for the time being, he wanted to do something else.

Snap!

Elder did a finger snap, and something was summoned by his side. It was, at first glance, a giant dark armored hand made of rock-like material. It had a second thumb instead of a pinky, making its shape rather symmetrical. The armor at the tip of each non-thumb finger looked like a snake's head, and there was a tower-like head on top of the hand.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Elder did more finger snaps, summoning more of the giant hands. He kept doing this until his finger snap failed to summon a new giant hand. By the time this occurred, there were already about twenty giant hands waiting for his command.

"Advance, my arms! Wreak havoc on the human settlement, and should someone interesting comes out..."

Elder was then engulfed in dark red aura, immediately coming out as his Falz Hunar form. However, this time the appearance of the form was different. It was now five meters tall instead of four. The armor parts at the fists, shoulders, and thighs had pale yellow color on them, and the same applied to the blade part of the Elder Pain sword on his back. The wings were also more prominent, coated in the same pale yellow color.

"...I will entertain them myself"

Elder flexed his shoulder, full of excitement. However...

Drrrrd!

His empowered Falz Hunar form crumbled to dust, reverting him back to his human host form.

"...Or not. Damn..."

Elder sighed and let his body fall backwards, ending up laying flat on the surface of the rubble pile he stood on.

"...No choice but to watch. Heh.."

Elder closed his eyes, seemingly falling into slumber in the middle of this foggy wilderness.


[X][X][X]


Clang! Clang! Clang!

A heavy ringing sound echoed throughout the area as a young, panicked male voice hurriedly spoke to raise the alarm and wake every citizen in the dead of night.

"We're under attack!"

Within one room of the Shining Golden Pavilion inn, Alice was the first to wake up hearing the noise from afar. It was thanks to her experience of being a lone wanderer for years that her senses were more honed than an average person's, though still not as sharp as those specializing in this kind of thing.

Without waking Rose and Hikaru up, Alice quickly walked to the window to see what was happening outside. What she saw immediately at a distance was a relatively young man wearing standard guard armor, carrying a metal tube and a club which he used to hit the tube repeatedly, making the ringing sound. He kept making the loud sound while running through the streets.

Alice immediately went to Rose and Hikaru and gave them a nudge.

"Rose! Hikaru! Wake up!"

"...huh?"

"Something bad is happening outside"

Both Rose and Hikaru didn't immediately wake up into full alert, but they still managed to stand up from the bed within five seconds. At this point, the ringing sound was louder than before because the guard was now closer to the inn.

"I still need to get dressed. Could one of you ask that guard?"

Indeed, right now Alice was still in her sleepwear. She had arranged her belongings in a way that she could change back into her battle gear quickly, but it would naturally still be slower than ARKS people who could change their outfits in the blink of an eye, or even these two who never needed to change because they slept with their battle wear, hats and shoes included.

Hikaru nodded and immediately jumped out of the window, while Alice immediately went to her belongings to change. Thankfully Ryu was not around, so she could change right then and there instead of having to go to the bathroom.

Right after Alice got herself ready, Hikaru returned. She immediately approached Alice and Rose before speaking.

"Flying monsters coming from south gate and demolishing everything they come across"

"I see. Anything else he said?"

Alice was relatively calm because she knew that E-Rantel was heavily fortified. Moreover, the outer ring of the city was mostly military installations, so there should be no civilians in real danger yet. In response to the question, Hikaru shrugged.

"Nothing"

"I see. Then our options are either to go to the guild and see if they have more information, or go fight the monsters immediately"

"What's your suggestion?"

Rose asked the question, and Alice immediately gave her answer.

"The latter one normally shouldn't be an option to begin with, but with how strong both of you are, I felt that it was still a viable option"

Hikaru shook her head hearing Alice's words.

"It's better not to think of us too highly"

"Let's go to the guild, then?"

"Lead the way"

The group then all jumped out from the window and activated their respective [Fly] spell to go towards the Adventurer's Guild. Naturally, it didn't take long for them to arrive, and there were already a decent number of adventurers gathering inside. Just a few seconds later, Pluton Ainzach came running in a hurry from the front door.

"Oh god, this is bad! Do we have strong ad- Oh! Ignite Maximus is here! But where are Ryu-san and Lily-san?"

Ainzach spoke quickly while running out of breath. Alice was the one to immediately answer.

"They are on an errand far away"

"Oh my goodness! Anyone know where Darkness team is? We need all the help we can get!"

Ainzach looked really flustered as he spoke. What Hikaru was about to tell him next didn't help at all.

"If you mean Momon and Nabe, they are currently in the Baharuth Empire on a request"

Ainzach froze up for a couple seconds, then he put both hands at his own forehead, massaging it furiously. Worried whispers could be heard from the crowd around.

"Okay, calm down. Calm down..."

Ainzach took a deep breath as he lowered his hands, and then he shouted from the top of his lungs.

"Adventurers! Assemble!"

All adventurers, after being briefly stunned by the voice, immediately lined up in formation. They were all grouped according to their respective teams and everybody tried their best not to let out any sound, although some faint whispers could still be heard. They were mostly focused on what the guildmaster would say next.

"I will get this quick. As you might have heard, the southern part of E-Rantel is under attack by flying monsters. Guards are now evacuating civilians away from the area, since the monsters are beyond their capabilities"

One adventurer raised his hand to ask a question.

"Sir Ainzach! What monsters are we going to face?"

"According to the bit of information I got, the monsters are nothing anybody have ever seen. In fact, I saw one from a distance before hurrying here, and it looked like a giant hand"

"What!?"

Rose and Hikaru made the reaction at the same time, startling everyone near them, especially Ainzach.

"Rose-san, Hikaru-san. You know them?"

Without saying anything, Hikaru activated her photon interface, which naturally drew curious and astonished look from everyone around as she pressed some floating buttons. A few seconds later, a picture was displayed in front of her, visible to anyone nearby.

"Is this the monster?"

Ainzach took a quick look at the displayed picture, and it took him less than a second to give his answer.

"Yes, that's it!"

Hikaru immediately deactivated her interface. Now her facial expression clearly turned grim, her eyes narrowing sharp and her teeth gritting.

"This is very bad..."

Seeing Hikaru's reaction, Ainzach gritted his teeth as well and asked a question.

"How dangerous are they?"

"If they are at full power, taking out even one is risky for me"

Hikaru's answer initiated more worried whispers among the adventurers. Not going to waste any more time, Hikaru spoke again.

"We will hold them off. Save yourselves"

"W-Wait, Hikaru-san! You can't-"

Ainzach's speech was cut short by himself. He probably realized that no matter how hard he thought about it, the fact was clear that right now the other adventurers were only Mithril Rank at most, and the present members of Ignite Maximus were the only ones who wouldn't die needlessly facing those monsters.

"I mean, please come back alive"

Hikaru didn't say anything in response. She just turned around and immediately flew away. Rose and Alice looked at Ainzach with determined look and spoke with reassuring tone.

"Don't worry, she is not alone"

"Please help evacuating the people while we fight in the frontlines"

Both of them then flew away following Hikaru. Ainzach and the adventurers looked at them for a few seconds, then Ainzach cleared his throat to begin a quick strategy meeting on evacuating the civilians.

Meanwhile, Rose and Alice regrouped with Hikaru while flying straight to the southern area of E-Rantel. It didn't take them more than a minute until they reached the border dividing the residential and military districts, where they stopped and hovered. Below them the streets were crowded with panicking civilians running for their lives away from the military district, with a number of guards guiding them.

Before their eyes, the three of them saw a great deal of destruction happening in various places. The giant hands were rampaging through barracks, barricades, and anything else they encountered, living or not. Their actions truly displayed their nature as creatures of indiscriminate annihilation. There was no telling how many casualties had been claimed by them, or would be if they were not stopped.

"I'm aware that we don't have any time to waste, but may I get a brief explanation about those... things?"

"Falz Arms, created by Dark Falz Elder himself"

Hikaru replied while activating her photon interface, along with Rose, who began speaking to add in more information.

"Weak points are the red core at the center of the palm and their shiny behind. Also underneath the fingertip armors if you manage to break them. Vulnerable to lightning element to the point that sometimes they get stunned from it"

"Hmm?"

Hikaru uttered a questioning sound, prompting Alice to inquire about it.

"What's the matter?"

"The negative photon readings are lower than I thought. They are not at their full power"

"So they are easier for the both of you to take out?"

"Yes, but taking one out is still not gonna be instant, and they are spread out"

Alice understood what Hikaru meant. Right now there were at least ten or twenty Falz Arms demolishing the military district while advancing on the residential district. Even with the team's best efforts, the fact was that right now there were only two people fully capable of taking those monsters out, so the probability of more destruction leaking onto residential district was very high, if not certain. Alice was not sure in her own power to help, even with the new weapon from Ainz, but she felt that she had to make a decision. So she began speaking with her eyes focused and sharp, fully displaying her determination.

"Let's split up and take out as many as we can"

Rose and Hikaru briefly looked around, then they looked at Alice and nodded. Rose immediately spoke to Alice, and Hikaru followed.

"If things get dangerous, run"

"Draw them to any of us if they are too much for you"

Alice nodded, fully understanding the limits of her capabilities compared to the other two. The group then split into three, flying towards different directions. All that they had in their mind was to stop those Falz Arms from causing any more casualties.


[X][X][X]


Ryu, Lily, and Guardian were relaxing themselves in a guest bedroom provided by the higher ups of the Slane Theocracy. It was already very late into the night, but none of them were asleep. Even Lily was still fully equipped. The main reason that they were being so cautious about the hospitality they received was that it was possibly a trap to attack them while they were fast asleep. Guardian could have refused the offer and left, but she still wanted to determine whether this country would be a cooperative ally or a hostile to future ARKS operations.

As of right now, Guardian was lying down on one of the beds while still keeping herself alert. Ryu was sitting on another bed next to Guardian's, and Lily was sitting on a chair a few meters away from the bed. Guardian glanced at Ryu, and she began speaking.

"Hey, Ryu. Mind if I ask some questions?"

"Huh? Why should I? Ask away"

Guardian then rose up into sitting position, facing directly at Ryu.

"What was the latest major event happening in ARKS that you remember?"

Ryu briefly went into thought, before replying in a contemplative tone.

"Luther took over and corrupted Mothership Xion, becoming Dark Falz Loser in the process. So the fleet switched to Mothership Xiao which arrived just in time to save them from total demise"

"Fufufu... Interesting. So even in a different universe, events played out exactly the same"

"Heh, poor you. Still a Loser everywhere"

"Ah, shut up you two. I'm more irked with another me lurking somewhere out there. The universe is not big enough for two of us"

"There is another you, can we play with him?"

"There is another Elder, will he play with us?"

Guardian ignored the noise of the mind-squatters inside her, and she spoke again to ask another question.

"Back then, why did Ainz and his subordinates think that I was Persona?"

"Because you look like Rose, and I once spoke to her about Persona being capable of impersonation. Guess Ainz asked her and came to that conclusion, so it's partly my fault. Sorry about that"

"What made you think Persona is capable of such thing?"

Guardian asked the question with a sharp look on her eyes.

"I didn't see it directly, but my brother told me that Persona mimicked him once and... did something bad"

Guardian put her hand on her chin, thinking deeply on Ryu's answer.

"...When did that happen?"

"It's classified info, and I'm not sure whether I can tell you or not"

"Ten years before, isn't it? Xiao's time travel"

Ryu's eyes went wide upon hearing Guardian's words.

"Wha, how did you know?"

"In my dimension, I was the one going back ten years in time. Indeed, Persona copied my appearance and did the bad thing, but I later learned that Persona could do that not because he- no... she was capable of impersonation"

"What...?"

Ryu slightly tilted his head with his eyes narrowed in confusion to either the abrupt gender pronoun change, the last point said by Guardian, or both at once.

"I'm not sure if I should say this but... it was because Persona is me"

"Huh?"

Ryu looked even more confused than before.

"Persona is me coming from the future, a bad future. What happened there has made her fall into grief and despair, turning her into a Dark Falz who went back in time to make things right in her own belief"

"Wait, so that means Yukasa, my brother..."

"Depending on how events will play out in your dimension, your brother will become Persona, or Guardian of ARKS like me. Although..."

"Although what?"

"I worry that the moment our dimensions are linked, events in yours may take a very different turn than what I have experienced... multiple times. Nobody knows whether the difference would be for the better or worse"

Beep! Beep!

Before Ryu could have any time to take everything in, Guardian received a call through her communicator. She raised her hand towards her ear and spoke.

"Xiera?"

"Guardian! What are you doing back there!? Did they capture you again!?"

"No, I returned here on my own volition. And I'm not alone this time"

"Yeah, I noticed the readings of another ARKS and someone else near you. Gimme a minute..."

Some beepings and button presses could be heard from the other side, and soon a photon interface showing Xiera from shoulders up appeared over Guardian's left shoulder. At this point, Lily quickly approached Guardian out of her curiosity.

"Hi, I'm Xiera! Overseer of ARKS Ship 005 and personal operator of Guardian, at your service!"

Ryu was speechless with the sudden introduction by an operator he naturally had never seen before. But he quickly collected himself.

"I'm Ryu Seika, an operative from Ship 002"

"I'm Lily Vangraf, Ryu-san's companion!"

Lily spoke her own introduction out of reflex, which prompted a somewhat amused reaction from Xiera, but she quickly went back into her straight and serious facial expression.

"It's nice to meet you, but I'm bringing an urgent news! Multiple readings of Falz Arms have been detected and they are approaching a civilian settlement!"

Both Ryu and Guardian stood up at once hearing the bad news. Falz Arms were abominable creatures only Dark Falz Elder could create, so Elder was definitely the one at it.

"Where is it?"

Guardian asked with a concerned expression. Xiera's display moved to right in front of Guardian's face before she answered the question.

"The same place I once told you before! I'm still picking up readings of other ARKS operatives there"

Guardian immediately looked at Ryu upon hearing Xiera's words. He seemed to quickly picked up the implication as well.

"E-Rantel. We have to get back there! The others are in that town!"

"I know, but we have a problem. There's not enough fuel left for my Dark Blast. At best we can only go..."

Guardian closed her eyes briefly and opened them again before speaking.

"...halfway"

Ryu facepalmed hearing that.

"Why were you so bent on going back here if you know that?"

"Excuse me! How would I have known that this kind of thing would happen at this kind of timing?"

Before the bickering between Ryu and Guardian got any more heated up, Xiera quickly intervened.

"Calm down you two! I got you covered!"

Guardian and Ryu turned their heads to Xiera's display. She immediately resumed speaking with a mildly smug and proud tone.

"I'm sending you an automated transport ship to pick you up. Yup, I've calibrated one just in case! You're welcome!"

Knock! Knock!

Suddenly the door was knocked. All three of the group turned their heads towards the door out of reflex.

"Hide your display"

Guardian quickly told Xiera, who nodded and immediately did exactly that, followed by Guardian approaching the door and speaking to whoever behind it was.

"Who's there?"

"Please forgive the sudden disturbance, Guardian Angel. A strange flying vessel was spotted above just now and we want to make sure if it is related to you in any way"

The male voice speaking from behind the door was familiar, so Guardian opened it and saw that it was the Captain as she expected.

"Ah yes. Sorry for the lack of notice, but indeed that vessel should for me. Something urgent has just come up and I, along with my companions, need to go immediately"

The Captain's eyes briefly went wide, but he immediately collected himself and nodded.

"Then allow me to escort you to the courtyard, Guardian Angel"

"Alright, thank you. Also, drop the 'Angel' part. You should know already, right?"

"Ah, yes. Forgive me about that"

Guardian gave a hand gesture to Ryu and Lily, and the three of them quickly followed the Captain to the courtyard where she had fought Zesshi in a spar. The corridors were illuminated with magic, allowing them to see where they were going clearly. The group as a whole walked with haste, and therefore they arrived at the courtyard within less than three minutes.

What Guardian saw there was a Fighter class ship hovering above ground by about ten or so meters. Fighter class ships were small size aircrafts which had enough space to transport up to four passengers in their back compartments. They were also armed with missile launchers and a machine gun, so they could engage adversaries if needed. Compared to Gate Ships, Fighters were significantly smaller. In fact, the belly of a Gate Ship was functionally a hangar large enough to house two Fighters.

There were a number of people standing at the courtyard, looking at the Fighter ship with caution. The Captain quickly went to them and made some hand gestures. Right after, all the people seemed to relax their posture with relief.

"Thank you for your help, Captain"

Guardian said it as she approached the Captain and offered a handshake. The Captain was briefly hesitating, looking at Guardian's hands before he accepted the offer and shook hands with Guardian.

"I pray for your safety, Guardian"

Guardian and the Captain exchanged a nod, and then she flew up towards the Fighter ship. Ryu and Lily also shook hands with the Captain before flying up to follow Guardian.

When they got close, the Fighter ship opened its back hatch for them to enter, and so they later were seated at the passenger space within. After closing the hatch, the ship accelerated towards a direction which should be the city under attack by Falz Arms. Normally, a Fighter ship should have a pilot, but this one didn't have any. Probably being automated like Xiera had said.

"Xiera, how long until we arrive?"

As soon as Guardian spoke her question out, Xiera's display reappeared in front of her face and gave the answer.

"About ten minutes!"

Guardian nodded, and she leaned on her seat. Meanwhile, Lily looked around with wide eyes, clearly showing her astonishment.

"Ryu-san. Is this flying vessel something from your world?"

"Ah, yes. Indeed it is, in a sense"

"This is awesome! I have never seen anything like this!"

"Heh, tell you what. I will show you something even better than this once I can"

"Really!? I can't wait!"

Ryu let out a laugh seeing Lily excitement, and Guardian couldn't help smiling seeing the interaction between the two. It was an appreciated moment of respite in anticipation to the battle they were going to engage soon.


[X][X][X]


Smack! Crash!

A giant hand monster swiped a barracks, quickly reducing the building into a pile of rubble. It was already devoid of troops because the soldiers had already retreated to defensive positions in the distance. They had spent all of their arrows and crossbow bolts the giant hand monster, but none of the projectiles dealt any damage. None of the soldiers dared to come any closer, seeing the crimson pool of flattened corpses behind the monster. Just a single one had already caused this much mayhem, and there were about twenty in total scattered around the surrounding areas. Any normal person would shiver thinking about it.

"Grrraaaaah!"

The giant hand roared from its snakeheaded fingertips, and immediately turned to the nearest group of soldiers in its vicinity. Without further delay, the hand raised itself and...

Bam! Bam! Bam!

It struck the ground with its palm repeatedly while advancing forward with each strike. The soldiers it was approaching turned tail and ran, but the giant hand was faster, closing the distance rapidly.

Thud!

One soldier lost balance while running thanks to the tremor caused by the strikes and fell down. The giant hand was just one strike away from splatting him flat, and the poor soldier froze up in terror as the giant hand raised itself rather slowly, as if to briefly enjoy the terrified look of the soldier.

Crack! Bzzzt!

Suddenly, a lightning bolt from above struck the giant hand, stopping it in its tracks. It twitched in place, seemingly helpless and unable to act. The soldier looked around while his legs were still shaking, and quickly noticed the one who had saved his life.

Hovering above was Alice Vegelshaft, one of the members of the Adamantite Rank team Ignite Maximus.


[X][X][X]


Alice hovered still with her weapon pointed at the helplessly twitching Falz Arm. She glanced at the soldier below her, whom was being helped by two other soldiers to stand up and resume retreating. She then immediately charged her mana into the weapon and casted another attack on the Falz Arm.

"Sazonde"

A ball of lightning, as big as her own head, was launched from the weapon straight to the Falz Arm and latched on it.

"Zonde"

A lightning bolt, the same as the one earlier, struck the Falz Arm from above. The lightning ball previously casted reacted to the lightning strike, discharging a continuous wave of electricity which wholly enveloped the Falz Arm for about five seconds before expiring.

"Grraahhhh!"

The Falz Arm roared, recovering itself from the stun while enduring the damage inflicted on it. Alice increased her altitude to keep her distance, but the Falz Arm flew up in pursuit.

"Zonde"

Another lightning bolt struck the Falz Arm. The armor of one finger shattered, revealing a shiny bright red core underneath and also stunning the Falz Arm. As the result, the Falz Arm fell back down to the ground with a loud thudding sound and a large wave of dust from the impact.

Alice glanced at the staff weapon she was holding. The gemstone at the head of the staff was glowing in yellow color with visible electricity waves around it. Alice had no idea about this and what kind of effect it brought. Back then, she had been too overwhelmed by Ainz suddenly lending her this staff she had forgotten to ask about its specifications.

One thing for sure, the borrowed staff boosted Alice's spells and photon techs. For the latter case, the boost was still far below what Ryu's weapon could provide, but there was no increase in mana cost.

Alice was still concerned, though. Having a strong weapon was a good thing, but having it without fully knowing its capabilities would be sub-optimal at best, dangerous at worst. Alice had heard stories of foolish adventurers finding a new magic item they had no knowledge of, trying it out without proper caution, and regretting it afterwards, if they lived to tell the tale to begin with. That was the reason why Alice was cautious about the visible ongoing effect on the tip of the staff.

What she could notice so far was that the gemstone began glowing when she had first casted the Zonde photon tech, and the glow grew brighter with added electric visual as she casted more lightning element photon tech.

"I wonder..."

Alice pointed the staff at the stunned Falz Arm below and casted Zonde once again. Like before, a single lightning bolt struck the Falz Arm. At this point, Alice realized that the staff reduced the mana cost of the photon techs, with increasing reduction as she kept casting more techs.

However, Alice had no time to analyze further because the Falz Arm cupped its fingers into a fist and launched itself straight at her.

[Evasion]

Alice used a Martial Art and managed to evade the gargantuan punch. The Falz Arm then turned around and repeated the attack, which she still managed to evade, albeit barely.

"Look out!"

Suddenly Alice heard someone shouting from below. Within less than half a second later, she realized that she had failed to notice another Falz Arm coming at her from a different direction. She tried to move out of the way, but it was already a little too late.

Wham!

Alice took a glancing blow from the attack. While it was not entirely a direct hit, the impact was significant enough to send her tumbling down to the ground below.

Crash! Thud!

Alice fell through the roof of a building, finally coming to a stop after hitting something soft. Still conscious, she looked around and realized that fortune was kind enough to let her fall right onto bedding. She immediately tried standing up, but...

"Ugh!"

Alice felt pain in her left leg. Looked at it, she found her left leg was bent in a way a human leg was never supposed to. In addition, her pants around it were stained with a crimson color anyone should be familiar with.

"A-Aaaargh...!"

Now that Alice was aware of her injury, the sensation of pain sharply rose to the point that tears poured out from her eyes. It was so painful, she became dizzy and her vision badly blurred. Everything in her sight swayed left and right as she reached her hand out with the last ounce of her consciousness.

[Boost Maximize Magic: Minor Cure Wounds]

A pale green light covered the broken leg, and within a couple seconds the leg was healed and straightened. However, Alice was still very exhausted because of this experience, and she had to admit that she was now effectively out of commission for the battle. She barely had enough stamina to even stand up straight.

[Lesser Rejuvenate Stamina]

The spell was not as effective when casted on self and the mana-to-stamina conversion rate was inefficient, but it was at least enough for her to grab her staff and stand up with it functioning as a crutch.

Crash!

Alice was not granted any time to recuperate. A Falz Arm had pursued her all the way into the building. Likely thanks to the sudden dire situation triggering her survival instinct, Alice felt a burst of stamina coming to her. She quickly picked her weapon up from the floor and distanced herself from the Falz Arm.

"Grrahhh!"

The Falz Arm roared. This one still had all the finger armors intact, so it was not the one Alice had damaged earlier.

Crash! Thud!

"Graaaahhhh!"

Before Alice could think further, another Falz Arm crashed through the roof some distance behind her. The one coming this time was the same one she had damaged before. But she had no chance to stand around admiring her handiwork, since she was surrounded on both sides. The only possible way out was the hole on the ceiling above, but she was unsure if the remaining mana she had would be enough to sustain flight until she could reach Rose or Hikaru. She began doubting whether giving her Flight Necklace to Guardian had been a good idea.

Thud!

Once again, something dropped down from the ceiling. This time, it was a person coming down from the ceiling hole made by the Falz Arm in front of Alice, who didn't take long to notice that the person was her foster father. He landed right on one armored finger of the Falz Arm, quickly unsheathed his dark sword which produced the soothing humming sound like before, and stabbed it into the fingertip of the Falz Arm.

Boom!

An explosion occurred at the stabbed fingertip, shattering its armor and revealing the shiny core underneath. The man jumped away right as this happened, still gripping his sword. While this was happening, he pulled a dagger out and threw it straight at the other Falz Arm.

Shhk! Boom!

The dagger hit the exposed finger core and immediately exploded, causing the structure around it to collapse and bury it in debris.

"We're getting out of here!"

Without warning, the man swiftly grabbed Alice by the waist and carried her, jumping through the ceiling's hole. He kept jumping roof-to-roof until they were at a relatively safe distance. He stopped on the roof of a still intact building closer to the residential area border.

"Can you stand?"

"U-Uh, yeah"

The man put Alice down and sheathed his sword, once again producing the humming sound. Alice had no idea what to say next, having been stunned by the fact that her foster father had saved her from a pinch.

"F-Father... I..."

"No, I'm not your father. You should just escape"

He turned away and was about to leave, but Alice grabbed his left arm and hugged it tight.

"I won't let go until I get answers from you"

"This is not the time"

The man looked at Alice, not trying in the slightest to ward her off.

"Yeah, and you will run away when it is time"

The man let out a sigh before replying.

"Alright, I won't run away again. I will give you all the answers you want later, but for now, can you let go?"

It took Alice a couple seconds of hesitating, but she slowly let go. As stated, the man stayed there, not running away. He put his hands on his hips and spoke again.

"I didn't come here for this, but it seems I have no choice now. Can you still fight?"

"M-My mana is running low, but yeah. I still can, fath-"

The man quickly put his pointer finger on Alice's mouth, cutting her speech off.

"Call me Janus. No buts"

"Oh... Alright, Janus"

Alice was somewhat happy with the sudden development. Even though it was most likely not his real name, she finally got to know the name of her foster father. Though she was fully aware that now was not the time to be delighted since the two Falz Arms emerged from the building and looked around seemingly searching for her. Both Janus and Alice quickly hid themselves by dropping down to the ground behind the building they were standing on.

"I have never seen those monsters before. I'm not sure if I can take out even one"

"My two friends can, and they're killing the Falz Arms as we speak"

"Those two girls whom I could have easily assassinated back then?"

"Hey, even Gazef Stronoff can be killed by a much weaker assassin with good enough planning and execution, and you're more than just a weak assassin"

"Hmm, yeah. You have a point. So why are you here in the frontlines, putting yourself in danger?"

"If I can prevent even one Falz Arm from leaking into residential area-"

"Yeah, I get it. Putting the lives of civilians above your own. Typical of dreamy adventurers"

"Hmph!"

Alice pouted hearing Janus' words. But the conversation couldn't continue any further because suddenly both of them felt an eerie presence from above. They looked up and saw that one Falz Arm was right above them.

Crash!

The Falz Arm rotated sideways and dropped itself, striking the ground with its side. Both Janus and Alice jumped out of the way just in time.

"Alice! Are these things weak against a certain element?"

"Lightning!"

"Got it!"

Janus pulled another dagger from the small bag hanging on his belt, concentrated on it for a split second, and threw it straight at the exposed core of the Falz Arm. It was once again a hit, and the dagger immediately made an explosion of lightning.

"Zonde"

At the same time, Alice followed up with another cast of a photon tech. The Falz Arm was once again stunned by the lightning element, twitching helplessly in place.

Schwing~~

Janus unsheathed his dark sword, producing the familiar humming noise Alice had already heard several times. At this point she no longer cared about the humming sound coming out whenever Janus sheathed or unsheathed his dark sword.

[Channel Magic – Lightning]

The sword was enveloped in an aura of lightning after Janus casted his spell. Without further delay, he charged at the stunned Falz Arm and jumped up.

[Sixfold Slash of Light]

Janus' slashes bore down on the Falz Arm with six lightning energy waves emitted in addition to the overlapping slashes. They all made direct hits on the Falz Arm.

"Grrraaau~!"

The Falz Arm staggered, wailed loudly, and then it disintegrated into dark particles which immediately vanished. Janus sheathed his sword, but he looked around in full alert, seemingly looking for something.

"Keep your eyes open. The other giant hand might be nearby"

Before Alice could respond to the warning, a familiar voice spoke from above.

"I already took care of it"

Alice looked up, and it was indeed Hikaru who spoke. She hovered down and landed on her two feet, looking at Alice and immediately showed a worried facial expression.

"Liz, your leg. Are you hurt?"

"Ah, yeah. I was, but I already healed myself so don't worry. I'm afraid I don't have enough mana left to fight, though"

Hikaru smiled in relief, and she nodded.

"Don't worry. We already got most of them. Only those four left"

Hikaru looked over her shoulders as she spoke. Alice and Janus looked at the same direction, and indeed there were four Falz Arms at a far distance down the road advancing towards them at a fast pace. They were connected to each other, making them look like one giant snake.

"Four at once? Are you sure you can take them all on?"

Janus asked with his arms folded while looking at the incoming converged monsters. Hikaru spoke her answer out with a straight, confident tone.

"Not me, but her"

Right after Hikaru spoke, Rose came down from above and landed nearby. Looking that her outfit was now Meru's, Alice quickly assumed that Rose had switched and now Meru was the one in control.

Hikaru and Meru exchanged a nod, and then Meru began charging energy. A green sphere formed on her left hand while a blue one formed on her right hand. One second later, both energy spheres grew twice as large and she immediately clapped her hands to make the spheres collide. She then stretched her arms to the side, and within a second she sprouted a pair of massive energy wings of green and blue color.

"Zandion!"

Right after shouting, Meru flew straight at incredible speed to the group of Falz Arms. As she collided with them, a barrage of large lightning strikes struck violently down upon them. Just five seconds later, all that was left in the collision spot was a single person who had utterly defeated the monsters, standing straight in triumph amidst the charred ground.

"Well... I guess I should take back my words from earlier"

Alice chuckled hearing what Janus had just said. A lot of things had happened today, but right now she was quite delighted that E-Rantel has been saved for now, and that she got to meet her foster father once again.


[X][X][X]


Afterword:

E-Rantel really can't have a break. The town is saved again, but nobody could know whether the luck would last. There was no telling either whether Elder, who is out there somewhere, would stay silent for long enough after the defeat of his Falz Arm minions. Ainz would definitely notice this sudden event as well, if he hadn't already. What kind of follow up actions will happen from all sides involved?

See you again later.