Basilio and Plimene gazed at each other wordlessly. It was Basilio who broke that strange silence.
"Even if our relationship isn't good, isn't pulling the trigger when greeting a bit too much?"
"......Regrettable. It was an opportunity to make that chattering mouth stop."
Perhaps the tension was relieved thanks to Basilio's joke, as Plimene responded coldly while lowering her gun barrel. However, immediately after, the moment she saw Delford who appeared with Basilio, she raised her gun again.
"......Delford?!"
He was one of the members of the Blood Brotherhood, a person notorious for his terrifying physical abilities and sharp claws that could slice anything to death.
"Hmm."
Delford also wore a somewhat complicated expression upon facing Plimene, who was one of the persons of interest. It was fortunate to meet another person for once, but of all people, it had to be a high-ranking government official of the city.
"Whoa whoa. Wait, calm down."
"You! Why are you with the Blood Brotherhood?"
"I understand what you're thinking, but I'd like to say it's a misunderstanding first."
"A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?"
"This man and I just happened to meet inside here by chance. As you know, this place has bizarrely twisted space."
"......Even so, you join hands with the Blood Brotherhood?"
"From your position as a public official, it might seem that way, but as a fixer, I'm a bit different. In this place crawling with terrible monsters, I'm not in a position to be picky about who I join hands with."
Basilio's argument was that a terrorist you could at least communicate with was better than monsters you couldn't communicate with at all. When Plimene still wore an expression of distrust, Basilio quietly added a follow-up.
"And despite how he looks, that fellow is quite gentlemanly and well-behaved. You can trust him."
Plimene only rolled her eyes as she stared at Delford. He just stood quietly as if he had no particular interest in this side.
From the information she had heard, the werewolf Delford was known to be a very ferocious individual even among the Blood Brotherhood, whose violence could not be controlled.
'Seeing him in person......'
The feeling was quite different. From the clothes he was wearing to his dignified standing posture. Rather than a wolf, he looked like a well-trained purebred guard dog.
It was clearly not a pretentious attitude put on just for show to others, but a natural demeanor that flowed out naturally.
"Or perhaps you're thinking of settling things here? In this situation where monsters might suddenly rush in at any moment? They would be quite pleased."
"......"
Plimene glared at Basilio sharply for a moment, then withdrew her gun again. In fact, she had moved reflexively and had no intention of pulling the trigger.
The opponent was the Blood Brotherhood. They were skilled enough to wipe out a platoon single-handedly, so there was no way she could face them with just a pistol and a single knife.
"Since we're traveling together anyway, let me say this."
It was then that Delford spoke in a deep voice.
"I'd like the person in that inner pocket to come out as well. After all, there's nothing to gain from us fighting among ourselves here."
Just as Plimene was about to ask what he meant, with a "pyorong" sound, Maia with fairy wings appeared.
"Maia? You, exactly when did you......?"
"I was secretly following just in case. I was going to launch a surprise attack to finish things, but looking at the atmosphere, it seems that's not possible either."
Maia, sitting on Plimene's shoulder, shook her head regretfully.
"That would have been fine too. I already knew."
Delford pointed to his nose with his finger. Since he could smell that scent, he meant he had already noticed someone was hiding. At that attitude, Maia frowned and flared up.
"Ha! No matter how the situation is, the fact that I have to work together with such a terrorist is quite unpleasant."
"If you dislike it that much, you're welcome to go separately."
When the atmosphere between the two was about to turn hostile, Basilio stepped in.
"Now now, let's stop this. In situations like this, we need to join forces even more, so would it be right for us to fight among ourselves?"
Delford nodded and stepped back, while Maia opened her eyes drowsily and turned her head away with a "pik."
Thus began the uncomfortable companionship of the four people.
-Crack. Snap.
Suffocating hot heat swirled around. Everything around was dried up to the point of resembling cracked, parched farmland.
The thread-like masses that had been spewing all sorts of mucus couldn't withstand the sunlight and had hardened, turning gray. In that ashen world, Osian raised his body and steadied his breathing.
"Whew. Hoo."
With his exhale, the size of the Sun Ring he was carrying on his back decreased and then went out with a "pik." Osian, who had converted the Sun Ring Armor into Starlight Armor, lightly loosened his stiff body.
"It's still difficult."
Even though he had become much stronger than before, the power of the Sun Ring was still like a rough wild horse that was hard to rein in. Even when he tried his best to control it, it wouldn't be controlled, and the moment his concentration wavered even slightly, it would jump unpredictably to the point where you couldn't predict where it would go. The mental exhaustion was greater than the physical exhaustion.
However, excluding the one point that it was difficult to handle, its power was truly beyond expectations, overflowing with effectiveness.
Everything around that had been filled only with red and pink had turned to ash gray. The ground that had been soft just to step on cracked and broke with a "poseok" sound like stepping on thin ice.
Probably even if you dug down several meters below here, only charcoal burnt by the power of the Sun Ring would come out.
'Malina seems to have escaped safely.'
Perhaps thanks to his warning as quickly as possible, Malina was able to cleverly put considerable distance between her and him.
Although the subsequent spreading wave of sunlight swept more quickly and extensively than expected, Osian wasn't too worried.
It wasn't anything else - Malina was a user of thief-class skills who was among the best when it came to mobility alone. Unless he deliberately targeted her, she would have escaped safely.
'However, if there's one regrettable thing, it's that I missed that woman called Sabrina.'
Sabrina was also quite a quick-witted woman. As soon as she saw Malina fleeing without looking back, she too seemed to sense something and chose to flee, putting her subordinates in front.
Was it because she had learned the sensitive senses of a thief's techniques? Or was it the instinct of a veteran who had lived for quite a long time?
Whatever it was, Sabrina succeeded in extricating herself from this series of incidents that Osian had caused.
'Still, I did injure her.'
If there was something reassuring in the midst of this, it was that Sabrina didn't manage a perfect retreat. Her reaction was swift, but her actions were clearly slower than Malina's.
She tried to protect herself by using her subordinates as shields somehow, but the flames of the Sun Ring weren't lenient enough to be blocked by such half-hearted actions.
What Osian had dimly seen was a jet-black shadow presumed to be Sabrina being greatly shaken after being touched by yellow flames.
Even in that state, she didn't stop and ran away desperately, so her will to survive deserved praise.
However, since she was touched by the flames of the Sun Ring, no matter how much she borrowed the power of an outer god, she couldn't have avoided injury.
'I should chase after her and finish it, but playing hide and seek with a thief-class opponent who has deliberately hidden and could have disappeared anywhere would just waste time.'
The fact that Osian himself had also expended considerable strength after causing such a big commotion was one of the reasons he gave up the pursuit.
He had burned everything within a 1km radius. It was truly a level that could be considered equivalent to a tactical nuclear explosion.
Since this was their main base, he had intended to cause as much damage as possible, but this level of power was completely beyond what even Osian had expected.
If the Sun Ring had shown this kind of destructive power in the game, it would have been called a balance breaker.
The Sun Ring in the game merely allowed knights to use ranged attacks in exchange for becoming sluggish, and periodically created DOT(damage over time) damage and fire zones around them.
Even that alone was powerful enough, but the Sun Ring implemented in a form that transcended the limitations of the game system was at a level that left even the user bewildered.
'Moreover, this isn't even full power. In fact, the techniques I remember from the game can now only be thought of as simple examples.'
If he had wanted to, he could have swept an even wider area. However, if he had done that, he would have truly exhausted all his strength and likely collapsed unable to do anything.
Even if the conditions and circumstances to use it were available, Osian would think carefully about doing such a thing.
Because it was so powerful that it would sweep away both allies and enemies without distinction. If he did such a thing in Tirna, it would be tantamount to starting a war single-handedly.
'I should refrain from using the Sun Ring for a while.'
Still, it wasn't without gain. He had roughly figured out what tremendous power he had grasped.
'Most importantly, I was able to roughly pinpoint the location of my power hidden inside this building.'
The intense solar wave that Osian created swept and spread widely over an enormous range. The aftereffects affected the entire otherworldly Trinity Building, and naturally could resonate with the power that they had stolen.
The separated power of the Sun Ring responded to his Sun Ring.
'As expected. Was it downward?'
A position close to the basement in terms of the building. His power was sleeping there. However, given the nature of the location, just because it was below didn't necessarily guarantee it was underground.
Whatever it was, since he had pinpointed the location, it was right to move there. Even at this moment, he didn't know what Cardinal Zaxilos might do with the power of the Sun Ring.
"It's a bit tiring to run."
Osian immediately summoned his sacred warhorse. The creature snorted roughly upon appearing, then realized that the surrounding scenery was quite strange and stared intently at Osian.
"There's no time for explanations. To put it briefly, we're trapped in the world of terrible beings from the outer world."
-Neigh neigh.
"Right. Whatever it is, what we have to do doesn't change."
Osian naturally mounted his sacred warhorse and took the reins. Just as he was about to spur it forward, he turned his gaze to one direction.
-Pururu?
"No. It's nothing much. I just felt a familiar sensation from somewhere. Right. If it's that guy, he could somehow make it here after detecting this commotion."
Osian thought that a surprisingly reliable ally had come to this place.
"Let's move immediately."
The sacred warhorse carrying Osian began to gallop as the clattering sound echoed through the ashen burned passage.
The sacred warhorse pinpointed the direction where Osian's power could be felt, then ran only toward that place.
Soon after escaping from the aftermath of the Sun Ring explosion, a place covered in flesh color appeared again. Eyes and tentacles sprouted here and there and began to target Osian.
"It seems the direction we're going is the right answer."
That was part of it, but since he had shown something like a living tactical nuke, they had certainly made him the top priority elimination target.
The field itself tried to target Osian with massive hostility and killing intent.
Thorns flew, poison was splashed, tentacles burst from the floor trying to bind the warhorse's legs. And naturally, all those processes failed to stop the knight's charge.
"Break through."
As soon as Osian's command fell, starlight intensified from the warhorse's body. The warhorse, which had truly become a living meteor, crossed the passage, and Osian drew his starlight sword and pressed it against the wall as he passed.
-Chaaaaaaak!
Following the trajectory of the meteor's passage, the flesh wall split and poured out massive amounts of blood. At the same time, the surrounding walls themselves writhed and screamed.
"Kraaaak!"
Among those screams was also the scream of someone else made with a human voice. Osian quickly pinpointed that location and changed course.
The meteor changed direction and conversely soared high into the sky.
-Kwaang!
The moment it crashed into the pink flesh mass where nothing existed, shock waves forming concentric circles tore the ceiling apart.
With a "pueok" sound, through the bursting mucus, a hunched old man in clerical robes appeared. It was a bishop who had activated a trap to stop Osian.
Perhaps shocked by the recent attack, he was bleeding profusely from his mouth.
As soon as the bishop fell to the ground, he quickly seeped downward as if sinking into a swamp. The warhorse that had stepped on the ceiling defying gravity fell to the ground and collided like a meteorite.
Pure white flames swept the surroundings and penetrated deep into the ground. The bishop who had seeped into the earth struggled to distance himself somehow even while being engulfed in those pure white flames.
Did that desperation perhaps bear fruit? He succeeded in distancing himself from Osian again.
"Troublesome."
If that creature deliberately hid and then tried to interfere with him, it would delay his movement. It was right to deal with it here somehow before going.
It was when he was about to resume pursuit even if it meant pushing himself a bit.
"Kuaaaaaaak!"
A voice presumed to be the bishop screamed at the top of his lungs from beneath the ground. At the same time, with eerie sounds of "kwajik, kwadeuk!", the ground split open like a flower bud.
From inside that split, dark navy blue octopus tentacles burst out in a rush. The bishop was pierced all over his body by such octopus tentacles.