Before crossing over, Renjiro had once heard a song called Gold von den Sternen, with lyrics like:
"The stars at night sometimes spill gold~♪"
"If you want to find them, you must travel alone to distant lands and face unknown dangers~♪"
BOOM~
At the border, near the "camp" that had been set up as a defensive line by Orario's adventurers in conjunction with the Rakia Kingdom's army…
[Shadow Crow, crave the midnight—]
[Arrows rain down—]
[Eternal strife, undying thunder soldiers—]
[The feast never ends, and the slaughter never ceases—]
Amid round after round of magical bombardments, it was obvious: the simple Antares army could no longer threaten those who had already endured a baptism of the Rain of Light.
Even if their side had countless wounded.
Even if tens of thousands of soldiers had dwindled to less than five thousand.
Even if adventurers from the major familias numbered only three hundred.
Only the elite remained.
Those who wanted to flee had long since left.
Now, no one stationed here would choose to retreat.
They knew:
It was precisely because the road ahead led to hell that they could not allow these monsters to step over this line and invade their home.
At this moment, Renjiro (Aether) and Lumine had two tasks.
One was to completely seal the massive breach at the border.
The other was… to defeat Antares' main body before the "strongest arrow of the heavens" could strike.
Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of Ottar, Finn, and others on Orario's side, Renjiro (Aether) had the chance to conserve a round of mana, providing additional support for the fighters at the border.
Meanwhile…
The normally low-mana-consuming Paimon had already hidden herself, flying straight toward the Elsos Ruins.
Yes, as mentioned before, the teleportation anchor Paimon had activated required the Twin Stars to be nearby in order to truly activate.
That was why Lumine had traveled with Riveria's Elf mage squad initially.
And now…
That limitation had vanished in the past seven days.
All thanks to the arrival of one Archon.
[Mona (Hydro) | ☆☆☆☆☆]
Yes. Around 4 a.m. yesterday, Renjiro (Aether) drew the gacha again and, of course, once more didn't hit the pity.
Though Raiden Shogun did not arrive, the ever-reliable Mona brought immense joy.
After all, they were all "full-favor" wives… cough, cough.
In short, with Mona's arrival—especially possessing her own consciousness—
Her Hydro Divination skills alone made her a broken-level threat in the entire Lower World.
Not to mention, Mona alone could do the work of two.
So, from that moment until now, all the last hours of preparation, Renjiro had poured every resource into Mona.
The goal was to level her up quickly, at least to boost her mana first.
At this moment…
"Phew~"
After countless battles, since the other Archon characters were mostly at max level, Mona was absorbing experience like a sponge.
Especially after that Antares, which had been killed using the Arrow of Orion coordinated by Zhongli and Barbara, provided a huge amount of experience points.
Thanks to that, Mona—acquired less than a day ago—was already at Lv.39.
Just a little more, and she could max out completely.
Thinking about it…
"Huh? Did Ottar steal my experience again?"
Renjiro (Aether), deep inside Orario, couldn't help but complain silently.
Why did he say "again"?
Back when Ottar first went to the dungeon to find him, he had casually slaughtered a bunch of Killer Ants that Renjiro had painstakingly gathered.
At that time, Renjiro and Lumine were fresh Lv.1 beginners, trembling and afraid to speak up.
Now…
Two Lv.4s who could arm-wrestle Lv.6s, even able to summon multiple Archon avatars to fight alongside them.
In just over a month, even a certain red-eyed rabbit boy would have barely leveled from Lv.1 to Lv.2 despite obsessively farming experience.
Renjiro… his main body alone had risen from Lv.1 to Lv.2.
Though he didn't achieve an all SS rating in [Base Stats], he still had a stronger "cheat" system of his own.
Before, Renjiro only wanted to use it for personal gain.
But today…
"So… the childish part of me… just didn't want to be a lonely hero."
Meeting like-minded allies and progressing together was both a personal desire and an indispensable element of civilization's development.
Since he was no longer alone…
"I must ensure that in the future, I don't end up alone again."
Renjiro recalled a small moment from watching Guardians of the Galaxy before crossing over:
Rocket Raccoon: "We barely escaped with our lives—why go on another adventure? What's the galaxy done for you? Suddenly you want to be a saint (hero) now?"
Star-Lord: "Because we live here!"
Even the slapstick of the Avengers understood this.
Now, Antares' existence was no different.
Thus…
"Located."
Finally, as the battle at the border stabilized, Paimon, who had set out earlier, successfully arrived above the Elsos Ruins.
By this point, Renjiro (Aether) had already returned to Dungeon Level 50 for his final charge.
And Lumine…
She did not reveal much about her upcoming itinerary.
She knew that as soon as Mona's Mass Teleport ability was exposed, someone would inevitably request to accompany them.
Previously, when Freya "died" once, Renjiro (Aether) and she had realized a simple truth:
"With my current [Cooking] level, there are only four unbound revival dishes left."
"In this case, since only the Arrow of Orion can kill the dungeon Scorpion, it would be far too dangerous for anyone else to join."
Honestly, after seeing the two scorpion, Renjiro knew: Antares' main body would be even stronger.
Luckily, he still had several aces up his sleeve.
So facing all of this alone was the best plan.
"No more deaths."
Of course, before departure…
"Finally, let's update Freya's overall [Stats] one more time."