Chapter 363: Too Persistent! (Patreon)

Clashes. Thunderous roars. The whole space seemed to shudder, ready to collapse.

Isagi could feel some kind of "displeasure" radiating from the Dungeon itself.

This thing was angry.

Maybe it was because the commotion he and Ottar were making down here had grown too large — but right now, golden light erupted from the Boar-man youth's body in a blinding burst, like a scorching sun, or perhaps searing starlight given form.

That light took shape as weapons and armor, swelling the man's "body" several times over, until he became, in some sense, a towering giant.

Ottar, meanwhile, was slowly reining that power back in — no longer letting it flare outward without purpose, but gathering it instead into something more familiar, something he could wield with greater mastery: a greatsword.

Ottar had never been especially fond of weapons like that.

As mentioned before, compared to offense, he was actually the type of [Vanguard] better suited to defense — even more so than Loki Familia's Gareth.

Whether through Skills or Magic, the Stats he raised were overwhelmingly centered on [Endurance].

But Freya Familia didn't have anything like Loki Familia's "combat system." They rarely mounted large-scale expeditions, and most of their members worked alone in the Dungeon.

Under those conditions, even a mage like Hedin had honed impressive close-combat skills.

Though, privately, Isagi had heard Riveria grumble about it.

She called it a "waste of a life."

It wasn't that the Elf princess thought mages didn't need melee skills — quite the opposite. The stronger a mage grew, the more their close-combat ability mattered too; ideally, matching a swordsman or Vanguard of the same Level.

Because the deeper one ventured into the Dungeon, the more dangerous the Monsters one had to fight, and the less realistic it became to simply stand still and cast Magic.

But training to the extent Hedin had — that, in Riveria's own words, wasn't really necessary.

'It's a bit much.'

Mages had plenty of things worth studying in their own right, things that demanded a great deal of time — and by comparison, close-combat ability just wasn't as important.

It was only because Hedin was an Elf, blessed with a far longer lifespan than other races, that he could afford to spend so much time on it.

If he'd been human, or a Beastman, or anything else, pouring that much time into melee would surely have weakened his Magic.

And within Freya Familia, nearly everyone — Ottar included — carried this same "weakness."

Of course, all of this was just Riveria of Loki Familia's own personal take on Freya Familia.

The two Familias genuinely hadn't gotten along from the start — they'd always rubbed each other the wrong way, to some degree.

Loki Familia valued teamwork and specialization; Freya Familia pursued all-around development instead.

Take Miss Heith, for instance — a healer of her caliber would absolutely be front-line party material in Loki Familia, never left aboveground doing nothing but rehab training and logistics.

But there were both downsides and upsides to that approach.

It meant a great many Familia members got weeded out along the way — but those who did make it through ended up terrifyingly well-rounded fighters, with no weak stats at all.

And on top of that, each still carried their own particular specialty.

Ottar, standing before him now, was exactly that kind of case.

He was one of the vanishingly few adventurers in Orario capable of pushing alone into the deep floors — he could even solo-challenge the deep floors' Monster Rex, [Balor].

Isagi had heard about this before. He'd heard it so many times, in fact, that it had stopped meaning much to him.

But now, feeling it firsthand, he realized the man in front of him really was no different from one of the Dungeon's deep-floor Monster Rex.

[No Effect] [No Effect] [No Effect] [No Effect]

If this were a game, Isagi seriously suspected every single hit he'd landed on Ottar just now would have popped up as one giant, glaring '0.'

Not even a forced minimum-damage tick.

That blinding golden light wrapped around the young man — no longblade, no greatsword, no arrow could pierce even a fraction of the way through it.

Every attack seemed to simply dissolve away. No feedback. No reaction.

It felt like fighting "light" itself, or something else entirely beyond comprehension.

He couldn't even say whether the "fight" itself still meant anything.

Was this what [Invincible] meant? Was this [the Strongest]?

Fascinating.

Isagi realized Ottar's power was, honestly, fascinating beyond words.

Even he had, for a moment during that clash, thought it "pointless" and "unwinnable."

After all, no matter the fight, the outcome always came down to one side going down, unable to move — that was what made you the loser.

But if you were fighting someone who would never go down—

then naturally, he could never lose. So what was the point of a fight like that?

Especially since Isagi knew full well that he himself could go down.

In that single thought, the outcome seemed almost decided — but Isagi caught himself in time, cut the thought off, and let his mind slide easily into blankness.

It was a state he'd once struggled to grasp, one he could only reach by chance.

But as his Level rose and the fights went on — up until now—

even without borrowing the Sword Saint Secret Art Skill from his [Land of Reeds] Character Card, he could now slip into that profound state of skill at will.

[Selflessness].

Purity taken to its utmost extreme, ignoring every outside distraction.

What lay before him — no, what made up his entire world — was only the weapon in his hand, the enemy's "body," and everything extending from it that could threaten him.

He thought of nothing, considered nothing — just kept fighting, purely, on and on.

Attack, defend, dodge. Then attack, defend, dodge again.

An end to it?

There was no such thing as a fight "ending" — once a fight ended, it simply stopped being a "fight" at all.

And so time seemed to stretch out, endlessly.

Bare fists or every manner of weapon — slashes, crushing blows, thrusts—

every kind of attack, at blinding speed too fast for the eye to follow, unfolded across that space.

Only this. Only this, and nothing else!

Isagi and Ottar had entered the Dungeon and begun their fight in the morning.

And before either of them quite noticed—

the sun sank in the west, giving way to early spring's loose, faintly chill moon and stars, and even the Goddess of Beauty, still perched high atop Babel, was starting to feel a crick in her neck.

'Aah—'

She even stretched, rolling over on the sofa with a satisfied little sound that left Heith beside her more than a little embarrassed.

Though, truth be told, the girl felt a bit dazed herself right now.

What even was this!!

The scene inside the Divine Mirror looked exactly the same as it had that morning.

Still fighting. Still fighting!!

And there wasn't a hint of an end in sight — no telling when it would finally stop.

Their stamina was just absurd.

Her cheeks flushed faintly. She was an adventurer too, after all, and had certainly heard the kind of whispered girl-talk about how "high-Level adventurers have such stamina."

But this was obviously not the time for that, come on!!

'Lady Freya… um… don't they need to eat?'

She had no idea why she'd asked something so silly.

But Heith really was a little worried — Isagi hadn't eaten all day, and he normally ate quite a lot, so surely he'd be starving.

'If he gets hungry, he'll come find food on his own.'

Freya said simply, offhandedly.

She herself was starting to feel tired too.

So, without a word to Heith, she got up on her own and walked over to the room's massive floor-to-ceiling window, stretching once more — that was just how an ordinary body worked; sit for a whole day and your back would ache.

Though for a god, even that counted as a rather "novel" experience.

There was no telling how much longer this fight would go on.

But the goddess was already growing weary.

'Go on down. We'll see how things stand tomorrow morning.'

'Yes, Lady Freya.'

Heith still felt a little reluctant to leave, but this was only "practice," after all, not some life-or-death struggle — not enough to make her want to stay glued to the spot.

[Let's go get something to eat.]

Heith thought.

[And swing by over there while I'm at it.]

Meaning, naturally, wherever the girls of Astrea Familia were likely to be.

It was evening now. They'd either be at the Hostess of Fertility, or already back at the [Stardust Garden].

Still turning it over in her mind, Heith hurried out of the goddess's chamber, took the Elevator down out of Babel, and arrived at the still-bustling, noise-filled [Central Park] below.

Then, getting her bearings, she set off quickly toward [North Main Street]…

Meanwhile—

on the other side of the city, in Loki Familia's base, the Twilight Manor, Riveria caught Ais just as she was about to bolt out the door.

The girl was clearly headed for Astrea Familia.

If it went the way it usually did, she'd probably even stay the night there — it had become a regular thing by now — not coming back at all.

It felt a bit like watching a child grow up and slip past her "parents'" control.

But Riveria wasn't planning to lecture Ais about it — she had actual business!

So the Elf princess left the Familia together with the girl, and the two of them set off toward the Hostess of Fertility in the distance.

What Riveria wanted to discuss with Ais was, of course, the matter of her and Isagi's "training" trip to the Dragon Valley.

A clash between two Lv. 8s, and everything they'd witnessed in the [Dragon Valley]…

In the days since returning to the city, everyone had, of course, already discussed the matter at length.

For Riveria, watching the girl whose Level had now surpassed her own — along with the new abilities she'd gained and the new weapon she'd received from the god Goibniu—

Riveria felt, oddly, a kind of unfamiliarity.

Not that she felt Ais drifting further away from her — rather, she'd simply never imagined things would turn out this way.

Even after meeting Isagi and learning of the boy's special Dungeon, that had held true.

Lv. 8 adventurers, the "power of wishes," [Tier-Zero Armament]s that surpassed even first-tier armaments — these were all things she'd never once conceived of.

And accepting new things took time.

Besides, Riveria was an Elf through and through — even among Elves she counted as one of the more "progressive" sort, but she still carried some of that stubbornness and tradition, and fully digesting all these new things still took a little time.

Most importantly—

Riveria knew that, someday, she herself would end up "like this" too.

Once she reached Lv. 8, she'd inevitably have to master entirely new powers and new weapons, just like Ais had.

That was no simple matter.

Nor was it something that would come naturally — nor even something guaranteed.

Whether she could actually grasp such power once she reached Lv. 8 remained a complete unknown.

Riveria found herself growing anxious.

Since it lay somewhat beyond her own understanding, she found herself, of all things, questioning Ais again and again about her "feelings" and "experiences," like an earnest student.

But the girl had no idea how to explain any of that.

Ais was pure natural talent through and through — as far as she was concerned, it was just, "you do this, and then that, and then it just works!"

Beyond that, she had no idea.

Which was exactly what left Riveria at a loss — because she genuinely couldn't make heads or tails of it!

She rubbed at her temple.

As an adventurer, heading to the [Dragon Valley] and completing the [Three Great Quests] was both a duty and, in some sense, a dream.

It was something that simply had to be done. Otherwise, she might as well retire from adventuring right now.

And to actually accomplish it, from what Ais and Isagi had said, reaching Lv. 8 and mastering these entirely new powers was the bare minimum requirement.

That was the conclusion the two of them had reached, based on the earlier subjugation attempt by Zeus Familia and Hera Familia.

And really, it made sense — the crushing defeat those two Familias had suffered back then was still, uncomfortably, fresh in everyone's memory.

And besides, the strength of the dragon-men in the [Dragon Valley] was very real, no exaggeration.

Those things were Lv. 8 at the very least — an ordinary adventurer below Lv. 7 would struggle to bring one down even with numbers on their side.

Of course, Riveria wasn't the only one feeling this urgency. There was also…

By the time the Elf princess and the golden-haired girl arrived outside the Hostess of Fertility, they found the place packed to bursting — the line out front wound on and on, snaking off into the distant back alleys.

What was going on? Why was it this ridiculous?

Then Ais rose onto her toes and, almost without meaning to, used her Magic to float up — and spotted the Goddess of Beauty performing some kind of "talent show" inside the shop.

This woman — she seemed to have picked it up from Isagi, performing some sort of "magic trick"!

And just then, apparently because there were far too many customers and things had gotten too hectic, Freya — still eagerly playing with the deck of cards in her hands — was suddenly seized by a woman in a black robe and hauled straight off into the kitchen.

As for the adventurers and gods who grumbled and jeered about it, the woman only had to glance back once to scare off a good crowd of them.

It was Alfia.

Ais caught sight of the silver hair beneath the hood.

She'd originally come looking for Isagi — but not only was the boy absent, Lefiya and the others had roped her into helping make hamburgers instead. The work only piled up more and more, until finally, unable to stand it any longer, she'd simply "dragged off" the Goddess of Beauty, still preening away as the center of everyone's attention!

One could only say — no wonder, coming from an adventurer of Hera Familia.

As the former "boss" of a great many goddesses, said to have even founded some kind of goddess alliance—

this veteran goddess seemed to carry a natural, innate authority over other goddesses.

And Alfia's reason for coming here was, in some ways, the same as Riveria's — a yearning for what lay beyond Lv. 8—