Wood: A War Game? I Accept!

"You've worked so hard, Hestia. Thank you for all your effort. Leave the rest to me."

After setting Hestia down, Bell and Lili hurried over, both looking delighted.

Under the pressure from Apollo Familia, the two youngsters had been at a loss. They'd wanted to help, but had no idea what to do.

But now that Wood had returned, they could finally relax.

In Bell and Lili's eyes, their captain had always been the very image of someone who could do anything. No one could match him in strength or intelligence.

No matter what trouble they ran into, as long as their captain stepped in, everything would be resolved.

"Captain, I'm really sorry. It's all because of me that—"

Bell lowered his head in apology. Even now, the rabbit-eared boy still thought that he was mostly to blame for how badly things had turned out, since he'd been provoked.

"I've more or less heard what happened. I'm the one who should be apologizing. My actions got you caught up in this mess.

"I thought Freya Familia were the only ones targeting us, so before entering the Dungeon, I specifically asked Loki to keep an eye on them.

"But I didn't expect Apollo Familia to show up too. That was my oversight.

"Fortunately, I haven't come back too late. Now that we know they're our enemies, the right thing to do is eliminate the threat before it's too late."

After comforting the members of Hestia Familia, Wood turned his gaze to Apollo.

To be honest, Wood had no impression of the god before him. He didn't even know when Apollo had started keeping an eye on him.

As Wood sized up Apollo, Apollo was gazing back at him with a strangely infatuated look, even shifting his body in an unnatural way.