I Can Make Everything Level UP

"... So, you were too weak to be of any help," Natalie said. "Correct me if I am wrong, and in the end, you decided to look for some sort of way to gain power easily and fail and left him alone. You sure have some balls to say that and still talk about working together..."

"As much as it hurts to say that out loud, we would only get in the way," Icarus said. "He protected us from some attacks, and he suffered a lot."

"While that only sounds like a bunch of excuses to me… if what you said is true, then not even us could have done much against someone that can make dragons appear and disappear," Natalie said. "... I can understand why he has been so careful as of late… too careful. He didn't tell us not to make us worry. "

"You are surprisingly taking this too easily…" Lucyna said.

"In the end, it seems that this enemy failed to kill Billy, so I am sure he will return somehow," Natalie said. "If someone can pull this off, that someone is him… Anyway, I am tired of talking, and I will guide you guys to the others that are working with me in this area. That being said, just like Billy, I don't trust you guys. I have even less reason to do so when you failed to offer him proper support, so if you do something suspicious… don't think that you are undefeatable just because of your weird aura."

It seemed that Natalie could tell that they absorbed the dungeon cores; In the end, even if they wanted, they couldn't underestimate someone with the same type of armor as Billy. Hers seemed a lot less focused on defense, but she had more speed and power in exchange for that. It wasn't their intention to fight her, but she looked like a troublesome opponent. Billy only left her behind because she was the mother of one of his kids.

After walking for a short while, they reached the new capital of Toles state, and there they also found the people working with Natalie. Aside from the usual soldiers that stayed in the city and adventurers, Pierre, Valentin, Louise, and Camilla were there. Natalie introduced them pretty fast, and the atmosphere got heavy when Icarus and the others met Billy's mother in that world.

"Billy is… alive, right?" Camilla asked.

"I… we believe so," Meryl replied when the others hesitated.

"What is the point of being so gloomy?" Natalie asked. "He is alive, but it seems that he won't return any time soon. It is hard to say when he will return."

Camilla and the others were informed of what had happened, and after seeing so many people appearing out of nowhere so many times, it didn't surprise them that someone was sent too far away. Instead of that, they were surprised to see a demi-human that didn't seem crazy. Because of Zenis, they only saw crazy demi-humans.

"If the enemy didn't show up until now, then your guess is probably correct," Camilla said. "Billy inflicted serious damage on the enemy, and he is recovering after sending him far away. This Zenis guy is probably confident that Billy won't return if he is taking his time… or maybe he is just that much wounded. From what I can tell, it seems that he played with your group for a while."

"Billy also had a hard time dealing with him, but it seems that he understood the enemy's abilities while he was fighting," Meryl said. "Regardless, we came to work with you to prepare for the real attack. As of now, he is only using his soldiers, but soon he will show up, and he will make Hydras spawn endlessly on the continent."

"Why does he want to kill everyone?" Camilla asked.

"It isn't like he wants to kill everyone… it is more like he wants to keep himself alive no matter what," Icarus replied, trying to keep hidden the fact that they were all people from another world. "After obtaining some weird powers, Zenis began to lose his sense of self, and it seems like something or someone is taking his body. He probably wants all the mana in the world to fight that."

"... There are some relics in the world that have some powers, and some people might obtain those powers for themselves," Meryl said when she noticed that Icarus' explanation was too weak. "We have some of those powers, and the enemy wants them, but we all just learned recently that they are just tools to make the person who obtains all of them to have their bodies taken by something. Only the enemy has more details about that, but we do know that he isn't lying."

"It feels like you all rushed ahead to fight an enemy that was way too powerful…" Camila said while showing some reproachful eyes.

"Truth to be told, the enemy would have gotten a lot stronger if we hadn't fought him and forced him to leave the dungeon," Meryl said. "In any case, it seems that events like these happen now and then, and that is why there are many different types of ruins in this world."

"...True, we found some of them," Natalie said. "Although those guys are suspicious, I think they are telling the truth. They somehow also have a similar Aura to Billy's."

Icarus, Lucyna, and Meryl felt shivers when they heard that. Natalie's instincts were way too sharp… In any case, at least her words convinced the others. The only issue was what they should do from now on. They had two clear options and explained what they could do to the others. Stay hidden to buy time, or show themselves, and then Zenis will definitely focus on attacking them.

"Delaying the inevitable isn't our style," Natalie declared. "Besides, people will keep suffering if we don't act soon. We should let the enemy know where we are as soon as possible and then reunite our forces in a single place."