"What?!"
My heart skipped a beat, my expression changing as I looked at the Conductor. What did it just say? First layer of Hell?
"Hell exists?"
"Why wouldn’t it?"
The Conductor tilted its head, looking at me as though it was looking at an idiot.
"You met one of the Dukes of Hell not too long ago. Why would hell not exist?"
"Because..."
My words stopped there. There was nothing else for me to argue with. Indeed, the idea of Hell existing wasn’t an out-of-reach concept. In fact, it made sense, especially with the appearance of Dantalion.
But that made things even more grim for him.
"Fuck."
I covered my face, trying my best to remain calm.
"What the hell have you dragged me into. How the hell am I supposed to get out of this place?"
"Well, honestly, it’s not that hard."
The Conductor replied, looking at me cheerfully.
His words reignited some hope for me.
"This place isn’t meant for the living. You will naturally go out once you find the exit or the place rejects you."
My eyes lit up.
In that case...
"But I can’t quite tell how long it’ll take for this place to reject you. Maybe a day, two days, a month? A year...? Well, it might take a long time."
It was as if cold water had been poured all over me, washing away all the lingering hope that had built up a moment prior.
This sadistic bastard...
"Your best bet would be to find the exit. That should be the easiest way out of this place."
I took a deep breath, once again trying my best to remain calm. My patience was really starting to get tested.
"Don’t be too mad."
The Conductor chuckled.
"This might be hell, but it doesn’t mean that it’s all bad. Remember what I said about finding an anomaly that might be useful to you? There’s no better place than Hell to find it."
"...That’s the last thing I want to do at this moment."
The idea felt tempting, but in this unfamiliar place, I would rather not engage with such a powerful anomaly.
"Well, a pity."
The Conductor didn’t seem to be disappointed at all.
"Still, this isn’t all too bad. At least you solved the mystery behind the disappearances."
My body froze, my eyes slowly widening as I looked at the Conductor.
"The people, the squad members who were sent here..." The Conductor mumbled, looking straight at me. "Their disappearance..."
My gaze swept across the fog-choked forest, the Conductor’s voice whispering in the air.
"It’s because they were sent here."
I held my breath, taking out a familiar compass and looking at it.
"Not such a wasted trip, right?"
***
"Let’s hurry! We need to show this to the Squad Leader immediately. This might be a clue to figuring out the disappearance of the squads sent here previously. We might be able to jump ahead in the rankings!"
Joanna and the others all rushed back towards the research facility, moving past the fog and rushing with all their might.
Joanna’s chest rose and fell with excitement as she saw the outline of the building in the distance.
’Yes, yes! We’re almost there! With this, we might be able to jump ahead of the other teams! We’ll be able to prove that we’re not useless!’
The group arrived at the front of the building in no time, moving up to where their team was supposed to stay.
And as they reached their area, they immediately spotted three other people.
"Nora, Mia, Niel!"
Joanna cried out as she rushed in, looking around.
"Where is the Squad Leader? I just got something incredibly important! I think we might be able to..." Joanna’s words stopped halfway, her expression changing when she noticed the grim looks on their faces. "You, why are you looking like this? Did something happen? And where is the Squad Leader?"
Joanna’s words were met with silence as Nora’s expression darkened. She seemed to want to speak, but merely lowered her head and shook her head.
Joanna’s eyes widened.
Don’t tell me...
"He’s not dead."
It was Niel who clarified.
"We... lost track of him. We don’t know where he is at the moment. Although he isn’t dead, we were waiting for you guys to come here before rescuing him."
"T-that’s..."
Joanna’s heart sank, all her previous excitement fading as she looked at the others. There were so many things that she wanted to say at the moment, but after looking at the others and seeing their expressions, she stopped, her expression falling.
But right then, the soft click of a heel echoed.
All heads turned as Ariel calmly walked into the room.
"I heard what happened."
Her voice was calm.
"He’s fine."
She added, not looking at all concerned.
"I can still feel my connection with him. He doesn’t seem to be in any danger. And even if he is, it doesn’t matter."
"What?" Joanna’s voice rose. "What do you mean it doesn’t matter?"
"He’s strong."
That was all Ariel said before leaning against the nearby wall and crossing her arms. Then, as her gaze swept over the group, her lips pulled into a thin smile.
"But I can’t say the same about us. Now that the Squad Leader is gone, we’re pretty much on our own. There’s no doubt about it. We’re by far the weakest group in the entire Congress. At the rate things will progress, we’ll fall behind even more, and possibly die."
"That’s not..."
Joanna tried to rebuke, but she choked on her own words as she struggled to think of anything to reply to her with.
Her mind scrambled for something, anything, to refute her, yet every thought she grasped at slipped away just as quickly.
In the end, she stood there in silence, lips parted slightly, unable to find a single convincing reply.
Ariel’s lips curled further as she looked at her.
"At the rate that we’re going, this is how things will be. But if you let me... Hm?"
Ariel’s words cut off mid-sentence.
Her head turned sharply toward the entrance, attention snapping away from the conversation. That was when she caught sight of a certain group making their way towards them, Patrick leading them as he entered.
"Is everything alright?"
He looked friendly, but his expression paused the moment he didn’t notice their Squad Leader.
"...Hm? Where is your Squad Leader?"
"He’s... away at the moment."
Joanna replied after a brief moment of hesitation.
"Gone?"
Patrick frowned, his expression not looking as kind. Then, as if something crossed his mind, he spoke up, "Don’t tell me that something happened to him?"
"Ah, no..."
"I can’t sense him at all. It seems like something did happen to him."
One of the members of Evening Sun spoke up, their expression turning into a smirk as they looked at Patrick.
"What did I tell you, Squad Leader? He’s a fraud. We shouldn’t have paired up with him. Now all that’s left is his team, which will act like baggage. Let’s get rid of them."
Everyone’s expression changed, a sudden tension rising in the room.
"Stop."
Patrick raised his hand, stopping his team member from speaking any further.
Once the silence settled, he looked back at Joanna and the others. He carefully looked at their faces before speaking again.
"Can you tell me where he is?"
"That is..." Joanna pursed her lips, looking back at Mia and the others. But eventually, she straightened her expression and frowned. "He’s currently dealing with something important. He’ll be back soon. We can’t disclose it just yet."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
Patrick nodded.
"Pack up your stuff."
"What!?"
"What are you...!"
"Don’t blame us." Patrick calmly looked at them. "Since something has happened to your Squad Leader, you are no longer of any use to us. As my member has said, you’ll just be baggage for us. In that case, it’s best if we part ways amicably."
"You—"
"Alright."
Ariel cut everyone off before they could argue. Wearing a smile that was unlike her, she reached for her stuff and started to walk away. Joanna looked at her in shock, finding the current Ariel to be so different than the one she was used to.
The same went for the others, at a complete loss because of her attitude.
But Ariel remained completely unfazed, walking past the Evening Sun Guild.
Patrick nodded at the sight, watching her pass by him.
"Looks like you’re not unreasonable."
But right as Ariel was about to pass him, she stopped
Then, her lips twisted into a sadistic smile as she looked at him straight in the eyes and grabbed his head with both hands.
"Kidding~"
She smashed her head against his.
BANG!
"Ukhe!"
Patrick immediately stumbled back, completely caught off guard by Ariel’s sudden actions.
"You—!"
"What did you do!?"
Immediately, the members of the Evening Sun Guild sprang into action as they surrounded her, but as blood leaked down from her forehead, Ariel looked at their group and began laughing.
Her laugh seemed almost deranged as she held onto her forehead.
"What a thick head~."
Her head tilted back as her eyes gleamed with a certain shine.
"Hmm, well, it’s still enough."
Then, looking at those surrounding her, blood still dripping down her forehead, Ariel got into a stance and threw a slow fist forward.
Her actions confused everyone present, including those from her group.
But the next moment, everyone’s expression froze as Patrick mimicked her exact movement.
"Good. Good."
Ariel loosened her shoulders.
Patrick did too.
She jumped on the spot a couple of times.
Patrick did too.
The actions shook everyone to the core as Ariel’s lips twisted further and further.
"Attention back to me, please~"
All eyes shifted toward her.
Ariel slowly turned to face the members of the Evening Sun Guild. Blood streaked across her face, tracing along her cheek and down her jaw, the red stark against her pale skin. The sight alone sent a chill crawling down everyone’s spine.
Brushing some of the blood from her face, Ariel’s eyes gleamed.
"Hey, guys."
She quietly called out to Joanna and the rest, her expression twisting into sadistic pleasure.
"...Have you ever seen a team get beaten up by their own Squad Leader?"
Laughing, Ariel threw a couple of random punches while Patrick followed her movements perfectly.
"I’ll show you."