"What!? What did you say!?"
Theus shot up from his chair.
"Say that again... No, you're all beneath the manor, right? Wait for me. I'm coming over now."
Theus tossed the documents in his hand onto the desk and hurried into the secret passage within the fireplace.
He encountered quite a few Banshees along the way. Their expressions were equally grave, so they must have received the news as well.
Before long, Theus arrived at the entrance to the underground palace, panting for breath. Ash, Nini, and Una were already there.
"What happened?"
The group exchanged glances before Ash stepped forward.
"It's like this. You previously assigned Una the task of creating a passage to the Abyssal Trench, so she planned to dig a tunnel between the manor and the eastern testing grounds to try it out."
"I know about that."
Theus nodded. More and more Banshees gathered around them, unusually setting aside their work, their expressions turning serious.
At the same time, she wanted to investigate the current state of the Coastal Abyss. Since the Abyssal Trench was now full of Pollution, she asked Nini and me to go down together."
Ash's combat ability was practically the strongest among the Banshees. Before the Symbiotic Pact, most of the other Banshees would die if they left the seawater, yet Ash had drifted on the sea surface for half a day before being hauled aboard a fishing boat and taken back to port. That was how she met Theus.
Later, when the Banshees escaped from the Abyssal Trench, the other Banshees had all been busy casting Flesh Magic for Monica and could not spare a hand. Ash alone protected the entire Banshee tribe and drove back all the Polluted monsters.
Thus, with Ash and Nini—the most proficient in magic—going to the