After seeing Asahi and Loki flirt for the thousandth time in less than an hour, Riveria went back on her decision to go with Asahi. He didn't force Riveria after considering the time with Rini as a date. So he strolled to the dungeon hand in hand with his lover.
The boisterous dungeon city had never been so muted. People stopped whatever they were doing and chased Asahi with eyes, their hearts shaking as if he was the greatest evil in the world. Just one glance from Asahi sent them rushing back to their work.
The demihumans greeted him in an entirely different way. They kneeled in his presence as if he was their god.
‘So demihumans are considered monsters.’
(They have traits of monsters, so yes… It’s their fault for having animosity towards my love.)
The new class was overkill for weak-willed monsters harboring hostility for him.
Disregarding the masses, Asahi reached the dungeon, only to receive another surprise. A silver-haired maid was standing near the dungeon entrance, receiving looks of admiration from the crowd. Her charming looks made her the center of attention.
“What’s that woman?” Ddraig asked curiously. “She has the aura of a god, however, she is weak. Weaker than lowly devils and humans. The red-haired woman was also like her. What are they?”
(Gods of a different world. My love, don’t you worry. I’ll educate this ignorant dragon.)
“I’m not ignorant!”
Ottar stared at Asahi, who let his divine aura flow without any restraints. The same divine aura gave Ottar the flashbacks of his crushing defeat at Asahi’s hands.
‘He is stronger than last time… Can I ever defeat him?’
His wall-like confidence had wavered after the last beatdown. Asahi’s growth smashed whatever hope he had left to save his goddess.
“Ottar, do not,” Freya warned Ottar with gleaming eyes before she approached Asahi with playful steps.
Rini’s scowl made no difference in Freya’s pace. “My Lord, you have been neglecting me for a while~. Babel has been lonely without you.”
“How did—you used that mirror spell again?”
The divine mirror spell gods used to stalk their prey. Freya had no trouble receiving the permission of deities, especially since she had declared herself Asahi’s maid to the deities. No god was willing to risk their heads. Even Ouranos had turned a blind eye to Freya’s action as long as she and Asahi didn’t bring chaos to the city. Astraea’s love was the biggest contributor to Ouranos.
“My eyes have never left that mirror since you left.” Freya giggled. “What’s a maid without her lord?”
“Waiting must have been fun.”
“Not as fun as seeing you in person… My lord, am I abandoned now?” Freya asked in a sultry voice as she leaned toward him.
Asahi pushed her back. “You just want to know where I was these past few days?”
“My Lord is unexpectedly sharp,” Freya answered with a nod. “I haven’t earned the right to know about that, I presume.”
“Yup. I have to meet someone right now, so I’ll see you later.”
Freya stepped aside, not before giving him a pout. “I’ll make you fall for me one day…” she whispered.
Asahi shook his head at her overconfidence. “We’ll see.”
Taking Rini’s hand, Asahi went into the dungeon. On the first floor, he came across a group of skinny goblins. They tossed their weapons aside and slammed their heads on the ground as if they met their tribal chief.
“That was unexpected.”
Asahi didn’t expect complete submission. Then again, goblins were the weakest monsters in the dungeon. Their will was bound to be weak.
“Onii-san always had influence over monsters… it’s more apparent now,” Rini said as she looked down at a goblin and stomped its head.
The green head exploded with red, like a watermelon. A hauntingly beautiful sight. Rini calmly kicked the goblin’s body before stepping on another helpless goblin. The powerless monsters tried to run but Rini trapped them with her killing intent and killed everything with a shockwave of her fist.
“I missed this,” she muttered.
“And I missed your craziness,” Asahi whispered and patted her back. “Let’s catch up to Ais. I want to see her reaction to your growth.”
“She will brush it off,” Rini said confidently. “Ais is like that.”
“I suppose.”
Strolling down the floors, he found Ais on the 4th floor. The blonde swordsman was busy watching a fox demihuman’s struggle against three kobolds. Haruhime, the new adventurer in the town of Orario, was clashing daggers with three dog-headed monsters.
Asahi concealed his aura to not disturb the fight and reached Ais’ side. She turned to him and her golden eyes widened.
“Onii-san…! Rini…?” she approached Rini and sniffed her hand. With a frown, she looked up at the blue-haired maid. "You're Rini."
Ais could never mistake her friend's scent for someone else. Even though Rini's appearance completely changed, Ais could recognize her.
Rini rubbed the back of her head, embarrassed. "I'm sorry for growing faster."
Ais looked at Rini's chest and pouted her cheeks. "Traitor."
The two giggled, ignoring Haruhime's life-threatening battle. Asahi took a sigh of relief. It seemed he worried for nothing. Ais accepted Rini's change without much of a reaction as Rini had pointed out before.
Asahi pressed a finger on Ais's lips and pointed at Haruhime. "Let's watch her."
Ais nodded, focusing on the ongoing battle. She had been following Haruhime since morning, watching her struggle against goblins, lizards, and now kobolds. No matter what the dungeon threw at the level 1 adventurer, she came out on top despite the odds. The fox girl was no less hungry for strength than Ais.
Even now, blood flowed from the slashes made on Haruhime’s arms. Yet, she held onto her steel daggers with shaking hands and blocked the joint assault from the kobolds. She kicked a kobold into another and weaved a flurry of dagger attacks at the kobold before her.
“I won’t spare you!” Haruhime lunged at the nearest kobold and drove the dagger through its chest.
The last kobold growled and jammed its fangs on Haruhime’s arm. She cried out, face contorting in pain. The dagger slipped away from her hand.
Ais was ready to jump in to help Haruhime, but Asahi stopped her. “It’s her fight.”
Tears spilled out from Haruhime’s eyes from the unbearable pain. She feebly hit the kobold’s thick skull.
“Otou—!”
Haruhime’s eyes froze, the call for rescue halting in her throat. Her expression warped in pure rage. She was once again forced to recall the reason for her suffering. It was her father. Her mother. Her family. She wasn’t calling them for help.
Living in Orario had opened her eyes to reality. It was her life, not a fictional fairy tale. She was no damsel in distress. She became an adventurer to never feel helpless like those damsels.
‘I’m not giving up now!’
Overwhelmed with instincts, her mind projected her father’s face on the kobold. She gripped the kobold’s head and dug her fingers into its eyes. The squishy tissues of Kobold's eyeballs ruptured. The monster released its grip on Haruhime’s flesh and howled in anguish.
“Otou-san, it’s your fault!”
With a raging howl, she hooked her fingertips in the kobold’s eye sockets and banged its head on the ground. Once, twice, thrice—Haruhime continued slamming the kobold’s head on the ground.
She became the very incarnation of mindless violence.
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