This story’s antagonist has become much more interesting and I look forward to what she has in store for our heroes.īell’s climatic battle with the minotaur is the highlight of not just this volume but the entire series so far. Ottar, and through inference the rest of the Fraya Familia, are so enraptured by their goddess’s overwhelm presence and beauty that their devotion makes the Soma Familia pale in comparison.
Using one of her Familia’s strongest warriors, Ottar, to prepare a minotaur just for Bell, we get our first opportunity to see into the mind of one of her adventurers and the result is sickening. Obsessed beyond reason with Bell, she is able to discern a flaw in his otherwise colorless aura, a cloud that sits at his core and prevents him from progressing to level two, that being his encounter with the minotaur where he first met Aiz and the overwhelming fear it brings to mind. Through it all, the comedy of Bell’s inner voice, as he is beaten again and again, keeps everything balanced and enjoyable, with the pace never dragging as the events set in motion by the Goddess Freya come to fruition.įreya is crazy in the best kind of way, almost completely detached from everyone else’s reality, she is a viable threat to the characters of the world while staying entertaining to the reader.
Acting as Bell’s personal training montage, these sequences serve to increase Bell’s determination to do better even as he struggles to face the gap between himself and Aiz. The training sessions between Aiz and Bell are brutal Aiz is level six, Bell one, the difference is so stark that even holding back Aiz dominates the sparing so thoroughly that Bell can never land a single blow.
What was once a vague acquaintance now becomes an actual relationship between two people, a welcome and necessary step if this story is going to keep up its steady progression. To stay there she agrees to help him train in secret. Much like others she wants to know just how it is that Bell has become so strong so quickly and she can think of no other way to do this than get close to him. Unlike Bell’s fascination with Aiz, that comes from a mixture of idol worship and love, Aiz’s fascination with Bell has nothing to do with love, but with curiosity. Kept at a distance from Bell up till now, Aiz finally chooses to take the initiative and seeks out Eina, Bell’s guild mentor, so that she can finally have an actual conversation with Bell, something impossible for her as he has always ran away up till now. It is surprisingly how fun it can be to see a honest and hardworking protagonist get beaten up this much and this often but see him be able to overcome the obstacles in front of him in the end.īut to reach that end he needs more than just hard work and gumshen, this is where Aiz Wallenstein steps into the spotlight. This all comes due in this volume, not only do we get to see Bell in an excellently detailed battle, but the hell he goes through to complete this stage in his journey feels earned and is all the more rewarding to experience as a reader. In spite of the many close calls, there were few times where I felt Bell was truly in danger. Throughout the first two volumes Bell’s progress as an adventurer has often felt a little too easy.
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