True Vorpal Bunny (Danmachi SI) Ch.9 (Patreon)

Chapter 9:

Iru walked down the streets of Orario. Anya and Lili had looked at him weirdly the day before when he had told them that he was taking a day-off from training and Dungeon exploration.

But, he needed to have a talk with someone.

The reincarnator stood in front of an abandoned church, one that had taken a few weeks to find when he had been orphaned. Orario was a mess of streets, even if you discounted the purposeful labyrinthic Deadelus Street.

But he had found the church, the one that Hestia and Bell would eventually live in, but more importantly for Iru’s goals, it was a church often frequented by sisters of the Hera Familia.

He opened the door and walked in. The silver-haired woman sitting on a bench turned her head in his direction but kept her eyes closed.

He silently took a seat when he wasn’t blasted right away by her magic.

Alfia the Silence, the monster of talents. Level 7 of the Hera Familia, currently working alongside Zald and Erebus, a god that defined himself as Absolute Evil.

The aunt of the protagonist, though the white-haired boy never knew her.

Iru steeled himself.

“You know. I don’t completely disagree with your plan. After your Familia got ravaged by the Black Dragon, we need the Last Hero and Orario in its current state would have never produced it.”

Alfia merely opened a half-lidded eye in his direction. She was letting him talk without interruption, so for that woman who hated noise, that meant that he had her attention.

“But, it’s very ironic. You are doing all of this so that he never has to pick up a blade, but the Last Hero is currently being raised by an old pervert in the mountains.”

Alfia’s breath hitched. Iru inwardly chuckled. This must have been the closest to damage the Level 7 had suffered since the downfall of her Familia.

“Do you fancy yourself a prophet?” She finally addressed him, her heterochromatic blue and green eyes now fully open and focused on him.

“I know one way things would have gone, but just talking to you is already making waves in the pond.”

He turned toward her.

“With what I just told you, knowing that your plan would have failed and that Bell would have come to Orario anyway, head full of heroic tales and harems, are you sure you don’t want to see him at least once?”

“What was that about harems?” Of course she would focus on that.

“You left a boy with your sister’s cute face to be raised by Zeus. You are the cause of the birth of Orario’s greatest playboy.” Iru deadpanned.

He let that sit for a moment before Alfia made a groan of dismay.

The deep chuckle coming from behind Iru’s seat made the Hume Bunny jump.

Zald the Gluttony, slayer of Behemoth, Level 7 of the Zeus Familia. 

Also the scapegoat of Bell’s dad’s adventures with Meteria. The coward would be chased by Hera’s angry Familia, only to use Zald as a meat shield with the excuse that as members of the same Familia, they were brothers sharing a father.

“Someone that big shouldn’t be that stealthy.” Iru told the giant of a man in full plate armor.

“And what is making you laugh exactly, Zald?” Alfia asked dangerously.

“I told you you should have visited the kid.” He replied with a grin.

The Silence clicked her tongue.

Iru stood up and dusted his pants.

“Well, that’s all I had to say. Next time we see each other, I’ll try to put my axe through one of your faces or die trying.”

“Ha! That’s the spirit, kid.”

They let him go without a word.

Iru got out of the Church and crossed the street. The moment he was hidden in an alley, he stumbled and fell to his knees, starting to hyperventilate while his heart tried to burst out of his chest.

Hell Howl negated the awe of divine presence, but it did nothing for the sheer weight of the two monsters he had just talked to.

They hadn’t shown any hostility. Hell, the whole scene had been light-hearted.

Yet, Iru felt like he had been that close to dying.

The challenge he had given them while doing his exit was foolish. He could go back on it and let the fights happen as they should have without risking his life against them.

But he hadn’t chosen the adventurer life to be bitch-made.

Plus, it wasn’t like he was going to fight them alone. Ottar would take Zald. Alfia would get swarmed by the Astraea Familia. Iru would get his own licks in, even if he was most likely going to have his entire skeleton shattered by sonic blasts.

So, with that resolve in mind, Iru slapped his cheeks and rose.

Conquer the fear, face the future.

[hr]

It was time. Evilus’s attacks had grown to the point that the Familia of Orario finally decided to join as one, led by Loki, Freya, Ganesha and Astraea Familia.

The gods shared information and prepared a joint operation. Multiple Evilus bases had been identified. The Familia would be spread in squads to assault the followers of the evil gods all at once.

Iru had to tell Freya that he had a bad feeling about the place attributed to the Astraea and Ganesha Familia. He had insinuated that he should join them to prevent anything from happening.

“Yo, Collared Beast!” Alise greeted him as he approached the rendezvous point.

“Scarlet Harnel.” he greeted the captain of the Astraea Familia back.

He also nodded to the gathered adventurers, getting some nods and waves back.

“Mah. Not often we get one of Freya’s helping out. They generally prefer going solo.” Lyra said, getting an elbow to the ribs from Asta Knox, the brown-haired Dwarf.

“Most of my familia are peacocks trying to impress the same female. Don’t let their libido bother you.” Iru bowed in apologies.

“You’re sure you’re in the right Familia? Maybe we can get you a transfer.” Ardee, the blue-haired adventurer of the Ganesha Familia asked.

“Ardee! Don’t try to poach from Lady Freya!” Ryuu hissed at her friend.

“I wasn’t Lyon! I just offered in case he was uncomfortable!” Ardee waved her hand with a panicked expression. No one wanted to cross Freya after all.

“Nah, don’t worry. I’m good at wrangling idiots, even if sometimes I feel like the only one not thinking with their dick, even though we do have women in the Familia.” Iru waved Ardee off.

“The more he talks, the less cute he becomes.” Kaguya commented drably.

Iru turned  toward the samurai lady, opened his eyes wide and wobbled his lips. His bunny ears lowered.

“Would you prefer I act all shy and call you Onee-chan?” He asked, lowering the pitch of his voice.

The gathered women lurched, as if suffering a critical cuteness strike, their maternal instinct roaring to life.

Iru then broke the spell by narrowing his eyes in his usual resting bitch face and spitting to the side.

“That left a bad taste in my mouth.”

“Hehe. You’re a dangerous kid.” Alise said what everyone was thinking.

The joking mood faded away as a messenger came to whisper in Alise’s ears.

“It’s time. Let’s go.”

They charged inside the building that had been noted as one of Evilus’s three bases.

Valletta Grede waited for them with a big smile on her face. The pink-haired, yellow-eyed woman’s smile was a vicious thing full of teeth.

“Well, well, well. The rats have stumbled in my web. Are you ready to die?”

Alise opened her mouth to tell her to surrender, but was interrupted by Iru.

“Oh, thanks gods. It’s just her.”

“What?”

“I mean, if it was the Dys sisters, we would have been fucked. We can deal with this hag.”

“Haha. You got a mouth on you, brat.” Valletta didn’t lose her smile, but a vein was throbbing on her forehead. “I was planning to kill you all anyway, but you, I’m going to make you a pelt.”

“You say that to every person under four feet tall. I’m not going to be your rebound guy just because Finn isn’t interested.”

Lyra squawked in the background, offended by the insinuation of Valletta wanting her “hero.”

“Really, if this whole thing is because you wanted some Pallum cock, all you had to do was go to the Red Light District. I’m sure Ishtar has some on loan.” Iru added insult to the injury by raising a hand and making a jerking-off motion.

“You are really not cute. Now die!” With Valletta’s war cry, Evilus members emerged from the shadows and leaped at the coalition of adventurers.

“BITCH! I’M ADORABLE!” He was repeating himself, but as long as people would keep giving him ammunition, he would keep making that reference.

With that, the fight began for real.

The adventurers still had the quality advantage. Outside of Valletta as a Level 5, most of the other Evilus cultists were Level 1 and a few Level 2.

Meanwhile, the entirety of the Astraea Familia was made of Level 2 and 3, reinforced by Ganesha Familia who had also sent their own second-class adventurers.

Iru kept an eye on Ardee during the melee. And he saw the moment she faltered in front of a little girl wearing the Evilus robes.

The knife flashed, aiming to slit Ardee’s throat the moment she let her guard down.

Iru’s boot in the kid’s face prevented that fate.

“You can try to redeem them after they’re all tied up. Now fight, you fool.” Iru berated the blue-haired girl before springing back into the melee.

He saw that Valletta was hounded by Ryuu, Kaguya, Alise, Lyra and Shakti. Even five against one, Valletta was holding her own. This was the difference of Level making itself known.

But the fact that it was almost  a tie showed how talented the aces of the Astraea Familia and the captain of the Ganesha Familia were.

That part was taken care of, but he also noticed that the robed cultists were beginning to panic, and it wasn’t good because he also knew that once they were desperate, Evilus members resorted to one tactic.

The cultists’ robes fluttered as they messed with something under their cloak.

The suicide bombs were activated.

With the promise that their soul would be taken care of by their gods, was it any surprise that the Evilus gods had managed to turn their Familia into Kamikaze?

However, the Hume Bunny had one answer to that.

“Collapse, Star Crown.”

With his chant complete, Iru planted his axe into the ground and spun, creating rubble that started to orbit around him.

His magic wasn’t long range, but there was a small radius around him where he could control gravity.

With another swing of his axe and a repulsive pulse of his magic, the rubble, encased in gravity magic, flew toward the suicide bombers. 

The impact triggered the explosion early, which triggered more bombs into a domino effect;

Valletta disengaged from her fight and looked at the gathered adventurers with a sneer.

Ryuu Lyon pointed her sword at the pink-haired woman.

“Surrender. You have been beaten.”

Just then, another explosion rocked the city. Valletta’s sneer faded into a smug smile.

“Whatever. The party goes on. Next time, I’m killing you all. And you little rabbit, I’ll skin you alive.” 

With that declaration, the level 5 threw herself out of a window and quickly gained distance before anyone could pursue. 

The adventurers quickly captured the Evilus members they had managed to knock out before they went suicide bombers, and went to get more info on what was happening.

When they managed to join up with other Familia members, they were quickly told that the city was being attacked, with the three bases having been used as decoys.

Iru took a deep breath as the situation worsened.

The Seven Days of Death started now.