Secrets Of The Hero Party

――S-Rank Dungeon【Crimson Night Moon 】, 25th floor.

Sylvan, the hero of the hero party, cut down a goblin like a black shadow with the “Sacred Sword Balmung.”

The shadow dispersed and vanished, but he felt a strange unease at the lack of any real sense of having defeated a normal monster.

“What’s going on? There was no sign of stepping on a trap, yet after being forcibly teleported, the monsters’ atmosphere changed all at once. Is this also part of the S-rank Dungeon’s design…?”

Sylvan spread out the map and checked his current position.

Although he had been forcibly teleported by a transfer stone, he had managed to pinpoint his location using the map prepared by the Holy Church.

Upon realizing that the place was the lowest level, the 25th floor, Sylvan chose to delve further in rather than escape.

“The Crimson Vampire Princess was defeated by Lord Oswald Weidenreich, the First Stigmata of the Knights of the Stigmata, who gave his life in exchange. The innermost chamber is already empty. In other words, if we just reach the deepest part and retrieve the Dungeon Core, we can return to the surface—and I’ll become the world’s first Hero to clear an S-Rank Dungeon and the next King!”

Sylvan advanced down the corridor, ambition burning in the blue eyes inherited by the royal family.

As could be inferred from Sylvan’s earlier mutter, he already knew that the Crimson Vampire Princess had been defeated.

The Holy Church had conveyed that information only to Sylvan.

No one in the Hero party—the Azure Sword Company—aside from Sylvan—had been told the real reason the party was formed.

The Hero party was a form of propaganda devised by the Royal Palace to enhance its own authority.

The conquest of an unprecedented S-rank dungeon.

A party led by the royal Sylvan Lengnard would clear it.

The party members included Garen Wolf of the Royal Palace Knights.

Lilium Morse, belonging to the Holy Church’s Knights of the Stigmata.

Ruru Ginger of the Ragiu minority tribe.

And Sid Ranorus of the Shikai Tribe, also a minority tribe and of slave status.

A Prince, a Knight, a Mage, a minority tribesperson.

Nobility, commoner, slave.

A mixed party of various organizations, statuses, and races.

If such a party cleared the S-rank Dungeon and Sylvan ascended to the throne, the populace would naturally look forward to the dawn of a new era and increase their support for the royal family.

After all, the people favor such palatable tales of heroism.

But there was one problem—the final Boss of an S-rank Dungeon was far too dangerous, and if the Hero party died doing it, there would be nothing to gain.

So the Royal Palace requested the Holy Church to slay the Crimson Vampire Princess.

The Holy Church accepted the request, expecting rewards from the Palace and the glory Lilium would receive if the Hero party cleared the S-rank Dungeon, along with the increased support for the Church that would follow—thus agreeing to defeat the Crimson Vampire Princess in the party’s stead.

The Holy Church’s greatest asset, Oswald Weidenreich, brought out several holy relics with Undead special attacks and succeeded in slaying the Crimson Vampire Princess—Ekarraat Dread—at the cost of his own life.

Given that, the Hero party only needed minimal stats.

What mattered more was having members with appearances suitable for receiving the public’s respect after becoming heroes.

Lilium was one of those selected for that reason.

Having once prepared an easily recognizable idol to gather people’s faith and eventually elevate it to a state religion, the Holy Church well understood that the easily graspable idol modern people wanted was a young, beautiful girl.

Therefore, the Church recommended Lilium for the Hero party based on her appearance rather than strength.

Although she actually had only average ability, they hyped her up as a genius beauty and even reserved a seat for her in the Knights of the Stigmata to give her prestige.

After that, all that remained was for the Hero party to retrieve the now-unoccupied Dungeon Core in the deepest chamber; that was all that was needed.

But there was one problem.

The first was that the Hero party lacked the strength to defeat the mid-Boss on the 20th floor—the Minotaur.

The Hero party was stalled on the 20th floor, unable to defeat the Minotaur, and the Royal Palace requested the Holy Church’s assistance once more.

The unit led by Sheena Aytel of the Knights of Stigma headed to【Crimson Night Moon】 to defeat the Minotaur and create maps up to the 25th floor.

And the Church, for its own purposes, also recovered Oswald Weidenreich’s body and holy relics.

In truth, the Minotaur had already been slain by someone else…

Furthermore, because the Hero party was slow to clear the dungeon, the Royal Palace provided powerful weapons and prosthetic arms made with the latest technology from the treasury.

The Holy Church also permitted lending one of the holy relics to Lilium.

With various preparations, the Hero party should this time be able to clear the S-Rank Dungeon【Crimson Night Moon】—or so it was expected.

But the Hero party had made one more grave mistake.

That was the awakening of the Shikai Tribe slave—Sid Ranorus—as a 【Shadow Necromancer】.

“Huff, huff… we’ve finally reached it! With this, I’ll finally be king! Unlike my brother, I was born with a Hero class—I’m not going to let this chance slip away!”

Sylvan finally reached the innermost area.

He put his hand on the door and entered; inside was a large chamber like an ancient temple.

Sylvan had already fought the monsters along the way alone, and his exhaustion was nearing its limit.

But it mattered not.

The final Boss was no longer beyond this point.

All that remained was to retrieve the Dungeon Core—so he thought.

“Oh, you finally made it—Prince.”

“You are… Sid Ranorus.”

At the far end of the chamber—on the throne where the Crimson Vampire Princess would have sat—a black-haired, black-eyed young man sat with an air of arrogance.