After a few swift jumps while carrying Goddess-sama, Bell reached a high vantage point where he could observe the movement of the entities hidden within the underground waterways.
"Bell-kun, where’s the thing you mentioned?"
With her divine power sealed, Hestia lacked the ability to see through the ground. Even from this height, she couldn’t perceive what lay beneath.
With a wave of his hand, several Rune characters manifested around them, forming a protective field. An invisible wave spread across the ground, revealing everything hidden below in vivid crimson outlines. Even the air was tinted red, making it easier for their eyes to process the information.
"There’s that many!?"
Hestia took a sharp breath as she saw the highlighted forms.
Through the visualization Bell-kun shared with her, she could clearly see the underground root-like structures moving through the sewers. But what startled her wasn’t the roots seeking surfaces to latch onto—it was the entities still lurking deeper within the tunnels.
The crimson outlines were far too dense, and the shapes no longer resembled roots. They looked like monstrous man-eating flowers, their blossoms bearing grotesque human-like mouths at their centers. Twisted and horrifying.
"How could Orario’s sewer system be hiding this many plant-type monsters? Are they all the work of the Evilus?"
"I believe so. But to hide this many monsters in the underground sewers... there must be quite a few gods already pulled into the Evilus."
"...Right. Otherwise, how could they possibly pull this off?"
Hestia felt a creeping headache. This situation was unfolding in the worst way possible. Among the gods were not only sympathizers of the Evilus, but those fully drawn into their ranks—and not just a few of them. Otherwise, something on this scale wouldn’t be feasible. She now fully understood why it was better to sit back and observe for the time being.
Knowing that a significant number of gods were connected to the Evilus, walking in head-on would be too dangerous. Staying behind the scenes and watching from a distance was a prudent way to avoid unnecessary risks.
"But... we can’t just hide forever, right? We can’t stay in the background forever."
"Exactly. Hiding isn’t a permanent solution. That’s why, Goddess-sama, we’ll need others to step forward and draw attention for us."
"Yes. But not just Loki-sama. Ganesha-sama and the Guild as well."
Bell expanded on his response. It couldn’t just be Loki out front—there had to be others. Otherwise, how would they keep the focus off themselves?
"If the Evilus is really ready to make a move during Monsterphilia, it’ll definitely catch Ganesha’s attention. After all, the Ganesha Familia is responsible for Orario’s safety and order. They won’t just let this slide—they’ll investigate."
"And then there’s the Guild. They manage all of Orario’s adventurers and oversee the city’s economic infrastructure. They won’t just ignore this either."
"So as long as those forces get involved, most of the Evilus’s attention will be drawn their way. That gives us room to act carefully without being noticed."
"As for Loki-sama, it’ll depend on whether the Evilus are foolish enough to involve her Familia. If they are... and her children are dragged into this... then she won’t just stand by and pretend nothing happened."
Bell’s assessment of Ganesha, the Guild, and Loki made Hestia nod in agreement.
If the Evilus were really acting so blatantly, then at the very least, Ganesha and the Guild would be the first to confront them. As for Loki, it all depended on whether her children got dragged into it. And if they did—knowing how Loki usually acts—it’d be considered calm if she didn’t start swinging knives.
The ground shook with a deep rumble as three thick, green plant-like stalks burst up from beneath the surface. At the top of each was a slowly blooming bud—within it, glistening white structures that looked disturbingly like human teeth.
Bathed in sunlight, the flower heads writhed wildly. The mouths hidden inside began to part, opening wide toward the sky.
The screech sounded like the cry of feral insects.
"What the hell is that?!"
And they couldn’t have appeared in a worse place—right in the middle of Orario’s civilian district. Just as the name implied, this was home to ordinary, non-combatant residents.
Civilians who could do little more than run shops or simple trades had no way of defending themselves against monsters.
One of the enormous flowers, still roaring skyward, suddenly snapped its gaping maw toward the stunned crowd. Its massive body moved with a terrifying burst of speed—
—and in an instant, it swallowed a person whole.
There was no scream. No sound at all. Just a thick spray of blood splashing from the bud onto the ground. It was as if someone had pressed mute on the entire world. The whole district fell deathly silent.
"Run for your lives!!!"
A sudden scream broke the silence, snapping the frozen bystanders out of their stupor. Panic took hold, and the crowd fled in a frenzy.
No one stopped to think about their families still inside their homes. All they knew was that if they didn’t run now, they’d die too.
Instinct overrode reason. Pure, raw terror sent them fleeing. No one could fight it. Not even the young girl who tripped and collapsed to the ground—there was no one left to show her the warmth of a protective embrace.
Maybe everyone understood this wasn’t a moment for parental heroism. It was a moment of brutal, selfish survival.
The little girl could only lie on the ground, hands clamped over her mouth, trying to stifle the sobs rising from deep within her chest.
She kept calling out in her heart, but no footsteps ever came.
And somewhere deep down, she realized—her parents weren’t coming. She trembled violently, paralyzed by fear. So much so that she didn’t notice the glowing Rune character that suddenly appeared beside her. It cloaked her presence and formed a small barrier around her.
But not everyone was so lucky.
In the blink of an eye, the plaza was covered in corpses. Severed limbs lay scattered across the square, and blood ran like rivers across the stone.
The adventurers of Orario couldn’t be everywhere at once—not even for an ambush this catastrophic.
Still, they were already moving, and they were moving fast.