Levi paid no mind to the gazes directed at him—some curious, some fervent, some lewd.
Wait, lewd?
He turned his head, looking in the direction that made him feel uncomfortable.
And there, among the crowd of gods, he saw Apollo, who had red hair and a rather perverse expression.
The other party had clearly noticed his gaze.
Although he didn't approach, he spoke in a voice that everyone present could hear: "My dear Levi You truly are a pearl I carelessly dropped! I can't wait to have you under my command, to cherish you day and night"
"[A DanMachi curse]!"
Being targeted by such an indiscriminate creep, even Levi couldn't help but feel the hairs on his entire body stand on end.
As he instinctively took a step back, he couldn't stop himself from letting out a very foul curse.
If he reacted this way, it was even more so for Hestia.
"What kind of madness are you spouting here?!" If Astrea hadn't been holding her back, she would have long since lost control and launched a headbutt attack at Apollo, who was standing on the other side of the gods.
Even so, the goddess with black twin-tails completely disregarded her image at this moment.
"Levi is mine, mine!"
"Whoever dares to take him from my side, I'll risk being sent back to Tenkai to drag them back with me!"
Hestia had never made such a threat before.
It was because she felt that most of the other gods were sane and wouldn't let the situation escalate to a mutually destructive point.
But Apollo, or more accurately, Freya hiding behind him...
Truly, when the tiger doesn't show its claws, you treat it like a Hello Kitty.
First the War Game, then stuffing it with her own people without even trying to hide it.
Oh, speaking of which.
Remembering something, Hestia shot a fierce glare at Hermes, who was trying to act invisible not far away.
"You, don't play dead either. If an accident I don't wish to see truly occurs, do you think you can escape?"
"Uh..."
Hermes had always maintained the detached air of an observer, but he had completely forgotten that women—especially goddesses—don't reason at all when they become hysterical.
He could only point to himself innocently: "I'm to blame too?"
"Who else?"
Hestia crossed her arms.
She was actually just taking the opportunity, with most of Orario's gods present, to throw a tantrum and reassert her sovereignty over Levi.
It was to prevent having to fight other Familias after dealing with the Apollo Familia.
Like in the story of 'Calabash Brothers Save Grandpa' that Levi had told her, they would just come one after another, endlessly.
Levi wasn't the type to hide behind a girl, either.
After being disgusted by Apollo, he cleared his throat and said, "Lord Apollo, may I ask, do you truly love the children in your Familia?"
Hearing the young man's words from afar, Apollo raised an eyebrow: "Isn't that a matter of course?"
"Then, why would you have them participate in the War Game?" Levi asked calmly.
"I did it to obtain..." Apollo answered subconsciously.
But he was forcefully interrupted by Levi: "People die in War Games."
"Uh—"
Ignoring Apollo's reaction, the pale-golden-haired youth standing in the center of the hall continued, "A War Game is both a game and a war, and in any war, people will die."
At this point, Levi paused for a moment: "At least, on my side, I will show absolutely no mercy. I will treat the members under your command as monsters from the Dungeon... to be slaughtered."
"!!!"
Hearing his words, the gods didn't react much; after all, the vast majority of them had just come down to the lower world for amusement. Towards their Familia members, most just held the attitude of 'I give you Falna to get stronger, you earn money to support me.' Only a very small number were genuinely changed by the people of the lower world, or had descended with good intentions in the first place.
But the adventurers outside the hall all showed solemn expressions. They could all tell that the youth in the hall was not joking. If those Lv.1 and Lv.2 Falna holders from the Apollo Familia truly appeared on the battlefield, what would greet them would inevitably be the Grim Reaper's scythe.
In the crowd, a girl with long, dark blue hair, though holding a staff, suddenly felt her legs go weak. If her friend hadn't supported her, she might have collapsed directly onto the ground.
But the girl paid no mind to that, simply grabbing her friend's arm and saying anxiously, "Ahhh, that dream was real after all."
"The majesty of thunder will strike down the sun!"
"I told you, your dreams aren't real." Her friend sighed, holding her forehead. "I admit that guy Levi is strong, but can he really beat the captain and the members sent by the Freya Familia all by himself?"
"If it comes to it, we'll just stay far away from the main battlefield."
...
Levi didn't have 'Mana Burst' active at the moment, so he was unaware that a certain Apollo Familia member he planned to invite to join him was right outside the hall. Of course, even if he had noticed, he couldn't have just walked over so blatantly.
"So, please let me ask again, Lord Apollo, do you truly love the children in your Familia?"
Levi was actually doing something very dangerous—he was tearing away the biggest veil covering the relationship between Orario's gods and their Familia members. If he were just an ordinary Lv.4 adventurer, he definitely wouldn't do this, for safety's sake.
But just now, Levi had demonstrated the only limb regeneration magic in the lower world.
And he himself had a regular combat power of Lv.6; after using the 'Orion Class Card', he could even go toe-to-toe with Ottar.
Since his power was sufficient, many things naturally no longer required such caution.
As for Apollo, who was being questioned to his face, he wanted to say that of course he loved the children in his Familia. But doing so would make him fall into the trap Levi had set.
Since you love your members, why would you personally push them onto the battlefield for your own desires? And even watch them die?
And if he answered that he didn't love them...
The problem would be even bigger.
Many of the members in his Familia had been poached from other Familias through trickery and coercion. They had little loyalty to Apollo to begin with. If they knew now that Apollo intended to send them to their deaths, then the Apollo Familia's home base would most likely descend into chaos before the War Game even began.
"My, my, it looks like that Apollo fellow has been checkmated."
Astrea watched Apollo in the distance, whose face was flushing between green and red, unable to answer for a moment, and the corners of her lips couldn't help but curl up slightly. It wasn't just her; many of the gods present didn't mind watching the trouble-making Apollo for entertainment.
However, right at this moment...
____
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