Of course, Alon had a plan for how to deal with the Father of Maggots.

He was not strong enough to take care of Divine blood without any plan at all.

He had also checked that plan over and over again.

...At least, up until just a moment ago.

“...”

Blankly, he stared into the distance.

Over there, a battle between gigantic monsters straight out of myth was unfolding.

A Divine blood draped in what looked like a black robe, grotesque masks hanging all over its body.

That thing swung a horrifying sword at the Father of Maggots as it drifted through the sky.

The dragon drifting through the air somehow avoided the sword, while the countless mouths attached to its body poured something down onto the ground without pause.

Kwa-ga-ga-gak—!!!

The earth exploded, and even where Alon stood, the enormous tremors could be felt.

But unfortunately, the Father of Maggots’ attack did not continue for long.

Because a Divine blood with horrifying arms all over its body dragged him down from the sky.

The Father of Maggots crashed to the ground with a deafening roar, only to be beaten one-sidedly all over again.

Watching that scene, Alon finally managed to say,

“...What is going on over there?”

“It looks like they’re all fighting each other.”

“Yes, it does.”

Evan and Penia answered blankly.

“...That’s how it looks to me too...?”

Even Yutia voiced her confusion as though she could not make sense of it either.

Alon thought to himself,

‘Am I... lucky?’

Of course he was lucky.

If the Divine blood killed the Father of Maggots for him, then Alon could reap all the benefits without any losses.

And yet at the same time, he felt a strange unease.

Even if this really was a good thing, in all his life, his luck had never been this good.

At the very moment his inner conflict deepened—

“Ah...!”

“Well, this is—”

“...”

Alon, Evan, and Penia all let out sighs at the same time.

One of the Divine blood beating up the Father of Maggots in the distance had spotted them.

It was definitely far away, but that gaze clearly fixed on them, and behind his blank expression, Alon frowned.

‘Of course things weren’t going to work out that simply...!’

Thinking that, he quietly formed hand seals behind his pocket.

“...”

Yutia also seemed to be considering something, but soon silently gathered holy power.

However, the Divine blood that had quite clearly made eye contact with them—

Kwaaaaah—!!

—as though it had not seen them at all, turned its head away and started beating the Father of Maggots even more fiercely than before.

“...?”

Alon’s group was bewildered.

Even in the middle of that, the Divine blood beat the Father of Maggots even more miserably and in a greater variety of ways, as if trying to put on a show.

A gigantic hand forcibly hauled the Father of Maggots—who had been pinned to the ground—back up into the air, only to smash him back down again.

And then the strange skull with those eerie glowing eyes, which until now had been fighting with a single sword, suddenly drew a second blade and began pouring pitch-black divine power in every direction.

...The Divine blood had started unleashing techniques that looked like ultimate trump cards for when they were losing a battle, despite the fact that anyone could see they had already completely won.

“Oh...”

With the spectacle in front of him erupting in dazzling bursts, Evan let out a sound of admiration without thinking.

Up to now, judging by how the battle had gone, it had been about as close to a pure fight as possible—

‘...WWE...?’

—but now it was as if they were showing off, throwing around all kinds of flashy techniques that, while spectacular, did not seem necessary at all.

Alon and the others, all apparently thinking something similar,

“...Oh.”

“Wow...”

kept letting out dazed sounds of admiration as they watched the Divine blood mercilessly beat the Father of Maggots.

And finally—

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■-!!!

With a horrific scream, the Father of Maggots had his head severed and died.

And then.

Alon realized once more that the Divine blood were looking at them.

Staring straight at them, as though fully aware of their presence.

At that, Alon wondered if it might be better to run after all, but soon shook his head.

Even if they did, if those things wanted to, they would catch them easily.

‘...Five.’

Instead, Alon subtly prepared the magic he had been holding ready, out of their line of sight, so he could activate it at any moment.

At the same time, he tried to gauge whether they would have any chance at all if all five attacked at once.

And then—

“...”

Just as Yutia, as though she had no choice, was about to raise her index finger,

thud—

the Divine blood who had been looking at Alon’s group «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» all turned around at once and started heading elsewhere.

“...?”

For Alon, who had expected a clash after the Father of Maggots died, it was a bewildering turn of events.

“??”

Yutia also looked stunned, but the Divine blood, once they had turned away, never looked back toward Alon at all and only kept moving farther away.

Before long, they vanished completely.

####

After the Divine blood disappeared, Alon’s group waited for quite a long time, just in case—really just in case—this might somehow be a trap, and only then headed toward where the Father of Maggots lay—

“...They really left.”

“They did.”

—and realized that the other Divine blood had truly gone.

Every one of them ended up with an odd expression.

Naturally, it was a good thing.

They had avoided a fight with Divine blood and gained a benefit instead.

But it did not feel real.

That things had been resolved like this.

So they stood there dazed for only a moment before—

“Lord Alon, so what exactly are we supposed to look for here?”

Penia broke the silence.

Coming back to himself, Alon recalled what the Seeker had told him, but soon tilted his head.

Now that he thought about it, the Seeker had said there would be something useful here, but had never said what they were actually supposed to find.

“...What exactly are we looking for?”

“Huh? Didn’t you come here to find something?”

“That is true, but—”

What are we even supposed to find? He repeated to himself, only for a moment—

Shhk—!

Since setting out on this journey, except when it was time to eat, Blackie had not come out from Alon’s chest for a full month.

Now it cautiously crawled out.

[...]

Spotting Yutia naturally standing right beside Alon, Blackie froze for a second.

But Blackie soon seemed to steel itself, dropped down to the ground, then scurried over toward where the Father of Maggots was lying.

And then—

─────────!!

With a strange sound, the Father of Maggots’ body began to be absorbed into Blackie’s own.

It looked similar to when it had absorbed Rakrakkamur before.

Setting aside his curiosity for the moment, Alon moved first.

“For now, spread out and search.”

In the meantime, he thought there might be something worth finding somewhere in the Father of Maggots’ territory.

“Got it.”

“I’ll look around too... Though I don’t know if there’ll really be anything to find here.”

“...”

Alon looked around.

Evan was definitely right.

It seemed impossible to find anything here.

No—more precisely, there did not seem to be anything left intact.

The place where he stood, what had presumably once been a domain before the Father of Maggots settled here, had been reduced to little more than ruined remains.

“...Let’s go.”

That said, they could not just stand around forever, so the group split up and began searching through the ruins.

Alon also entered between the wreckage at random and began looking around, just in case.

How much time passed like that?

“Hoo—”

Alon let out a quiet sigh.

He had expected as much, but there really was nothing here to find.

‘...Could it have vanished while fighting Divine blood?’

He only lingered on that thoroughly unappealing worst-case assumption for a moment—

“...Hm?”

Through a gap in the ruins, he saw a strange sight in the grassland.

More precisely, Divine blood standing far away—

“Teacher?”

While he was staring at that inexplicable afterimage, Yutia’s voice broke his train of thought.

At some point, Yutia had come over and was looking at him with a smile at her lips.

“...Yutia?”

“What were you looking at?”

At her question, Alon belatedly recalled what he had just seen and turned his gaze back.

“...Hm?”

At some point, the afterimage had disappeared.

There was only a wide grassland.

Still wearing a puzzled expression, Alon soon realized Yutia was there and answered,

“No, I must have been seeing things.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. More importantly, what brings you here?”

Yutia stepped a little closer.

“I think I may have found something.”

And she handed Alon an item she had found in the ruins.

“...This?”

A small glint appeared in Alon’s eyes.

####

Around the time Alon received something from Yutia, the Divine blood who had dealt with the Father of Maggots and then left without a word walked across the grassland in silence for quite a long time.

Until they had completely left the Father of Maggots’ territory behind.

And finally, when they had crossed out of it—

[...Did everyone confirm it?]

One of the Divine blood spoke first.

[Yes.]

[I saw it too.]

[Confirmed.]

[That was definitely the Star Eater.]

Every one of the Divine blood nodded.

And then—

[Did you see it? Did you?! The Star Eater saw me grab the Father of Maggots and slam him straight into the ground!]

[Hmph. Was that not just a simple slam? The one the Star Eater saw was me, stomping that bastard straight into the earth!]

[No! It wasn’t you, it was me! The Star Eater clearly saw my black flames burning him down!]

[Ha, it was me!]

[No, me!]

[I’m telling you, it was me!!]

In an instant, a heated argument broke out among the Divine blood.

But only for a moment.

[That’s enough, all of you!]

At the Darkness-Eating Sword’s shout, everyone’s gaze turned to him.

The Darkness-Eating Sword quieted the dispute from moments ago, then silently looked around at the others.

[The one the Star Eater saw was ‘me,’ the one who dealt with the Father of Maggots.]

He let out a faint snort, recalling how he had killed the Father of Maggots just moments earlier—

[Ripped him apart.]

—and left behind that single curt remark.