"You're back, Takatsuki-kun!"
As soon as Takatsuki returned to the living room of Hearth Manor from the passage, a figure pounced on him.
Takatsuki caught Hestia, who wanted to hang on him, and put her down.
"Takatsuki-kun, are you hurt?"
Compared to Hestia's concern, everyone else looked at Takatsuki with some surprise.
"Is he Takatsuki?"
Because Takatsuki had returned directly from Ishtar Familia, he hadn't taken off his helmet, so he looked like a complete stranger to others.
Hearing Kiana's question, Takatsuki took off his helmet: "It's me. This helmet has the effect of hiding my identity."
"Wow! It really is Takatsuki!"
"That passage just now was indeed Takatsuki's method, but Bronya didn't recognize Takatsuki. It seems this helmet might have the effect of interfering with perception."
Kiana leaned over to Takatsuki, took the helmet from his hand, and then put it on in front of Bronya.
"Hehe, Bronya, can you recognize who I am?"
Bronya rolled her eyes at Kiana acting foolishly in front of her, then suddenly said in a flat tone: "Ah~ Kiana is gone? Who are you? Why are you here? Project Bunny 19C—"
"No, no, no, I'm Kiana."
Seeing Project Bunny appear behind Bronya, Kiana quickly took off her helmet.
"You can't fool Bronya!"
Although Kiana took off her helmet, Bronya showed no intention of stopping, which startled Kiana, who quickly hid behind Fu Hua.
"Class monitor, save me!"
Fu Hua looked at the two bickering and said helplessly: "Alright, stop messing around."
"Takatsuki, has the matter been resolved? Where is Bell?"
Takatsuki nodded: "Don't worry, there are no problems anymore."
As he spoke, a huge white pillar of light illuminated the entire night sky.
"Wow, what is that? An explosion?"
Kiana blinked, looking at the pillar of light outside the window.
"It is a god's return."
Hestia looked out the window, lost in thought, then turned around and said: "When a god violates the rules by using a large amount of divine power or is severely injured, they will be automatically sent back to Heaven and can no longer descend to the lower world. This is the rule."
"The god has been sent back, Bell should be back soon. How is the house being cleaned up?"
Takatsuki glanced at the pillar of light and then no longer paid attention. He looked around; some damaged parts of the house had been repaired, but some areas were still messy.
"The class monitor used magic to restore some areas, but due to limited magic power, most places still need us to clean them ourselves."
Mei gestured to the living room. They had been cleaning for a while and still hadn't restored the living room to its original state, because destruction is always easier than creation. The damage caused by those people in just a few minutes took them several hours to restore only a small part.
"It seems it will be difficult for just a few of us to restore Hearth Manor tonight."
As soon as she finished speaking, Hestia said apologetically: "I'm sorry, it's all because of me…"
Halfway through her sentence, Takatsuki reached out and pressed his hand on Hestia's head. Although he was only a nineteen-year-old boy, Takatsuki was already considered tall compared to the main god who hadn't grown taller in hundreds of millions of years.
"Don't say such things anymore. If we can't finish cleaning, then just let more people help."
Takatsuki knew that Hestia was about to mention Jerry, so he interrupted her in advance. In his mind, Jerry was just a doll he made, like an intelligent robot, but Hestia didn't think so. To take care of his main god's feelings, Takatsuki felt it was best not to mention it.
"More people? But it's already so late, and Bell and the others haven't returned yet."
Takatsuki spread his hands, and everyone noticed that the shadow at Takatsuki's feet suddenly grew larger, connecting with the shadows of other furniture around. Everyone was startled by this scene, only Mei showed a knowing expression.
"No need for others, I'll just summon some 'professionals' to help."
As soon as Takatsuki's words fell, the shadows covering the living room suddenly became three-dimensional, and figures stood up from within the shadows.
Dozens of Shadowkhan, dressed in black ninja suits with green skin and red eyes, stood or squatted, filling the living room.
"These are…"
Although the Shadowkhan Soldiers were not strong, this scene was still very shocking. If others hadn't realized that Takatsuki had summoned them, they would have already attacked these obviously non-human Shadowkhan Soldiers.
"Just consider it one of my special abilities. I can summon some Shadowkhan Soldiers from shadows to help."
Takatsuki explained to the others and then gave instructions to the surrounding Shadowkhan Soldiers: "Clean up all areas in the house."
All the Shadowkhan Soldiers nodded heavily in unison to Takatsuki, and then a large group of Shadowkhan Soldiers instantly turned into black shadows and disappeared in the living room, leaving only a few Shadowkhan Soldiers to start tidying up the remaining mess in the living room.
"What are these? Is it Stand's ability again?"
Except for Mei, the others looked at Takatsuki with questioning eyes.
"These soldiers are called the Shadowkhan. They are formed from shadows, are absolutely loyal, and will not die. If defeated, they will only turn back into shadows and can be re-summoned by me."
"Their strength is greater than ordinary people, and they have strong mobility, but compared to adventurers, even an experienced lower-level adventurer can defeat them. However, when it comes to housework, they are very skilled."
In fact, even without Takatsuki saying anything, the others saw the Shadowkhan quickly tidying up the living room. They could walk freely on walls and ceilings, and even enter shadows to clean places that normal people couldn't reach.
"I see, that's why Himeko's dorm was cleaned so quickly."
Seeing this scene, Bronya immediately reacted, while Kiana hadn't reacted to Bronya's sudden words.
"What about Himeko's dorm? Wasn't it messy?"
Bronya rolled her eyes at Kiana and looked at Takatsuki.
"You guessed right~"
Fu Hua, watching the Shadowkhan Soldiers who had quickly cleaned the living room and left while the others were talking, couldn't help but exclaim: "Takatsuki, you really have a lot of surprises."
Just as the others were waiting for the Shadowkhan Soldiers to clean up, Bell returned.
Returning with him was Haruhime, whom he had brought back from Ishtar Familia.
Bell didn't elaborate on his experience to the others, only roughly explaining that his party was attacked by Aisha in the Dungeon, Aisha kidnapped him, and then he was rescued by Haruhime. On the way, he escaped from Phryne because Ishtar was sent back by an unknown person.
Up to this point, there wasn't much difference from the original story, but Takatsuki always felt that something was wrong.
"Then why didn't Welf and Liliruca go to save you?"
Kiana suddenly asked.
"Ah! Welf and Liliruca!"
Bell suddenly remembered the two. Takatsuki also remembered after Kiana reminded him; in the original story, after the group was attacked, they went back to Hestia, which was how Hestia found out about Bell being kidnapped.
But this time, Hestia was also captured…
"Bell, what floor were you on when you were captured?"
"15th Floor! Didn't they come back?!"
Bell asked anxiously.
…
It's over, Takatsuki immediately realized what had happened. With Welf and Liliruca's strength, it was impossible for them to return from the 15th Floor.
"I'll be right back!"
After realizing this, Takatsuki immediately opened the passage directly to the 18th Floor. Takatsuki had not left any anchor points on the first seventeen floors of the Dungeon, only leaving a weapon on the safe floor.
Although those two had nothing to do with him, they were Bell's teammates and could be considered acquaintances in a way, so Takatsuki couldn't just Stand by and do nothing.
"Wait, I also…"
"You should settle Haruhime first, Hestia. I'll leave this here to you."
Takatsuki directly interrupted Bell and then said to Hestia.
"Mm! Leave it to me!"
Takatsuki nodded and jumped into the passage, leaving only one sentence: "I'm taking the Shadowkhan with me."
Watching the passage close as Takatsuki entered, Hestia looked at Bell and Haruhime.
"The rest is up to you, Bell. Do you want Sanjouno to join our Familia?"
…
In the Dungeon, the safe floor of the 18th Floor, although underground, had day and night just like the surface.
Takatsuki looked up at the huge crystal on the dome of the 18th Floor that emitted moonlight-like light, abandoning the idea of releasing Shikoutazer to punch through it and fly up, and honestly ran towards the upper floors.
As he ran, countless Shadowkhan Soldiers appeared from the shadows.
"Go find Welf and Liliruca. See if they're on this floor first."
If they were separated on the 15th Floor, the two of them wouldn't be strong enough to return to the surface. The most correct method would be to go down. Although the probability of them reaching the 18th Floor was highest now, once they reached it, they would basically be safe. However, if they hadn't reached it, then it would be dangerous, so Takatsuki didn't plan to waste too much time on the 18th Floor.
Until Takatsuki reached the 17th Floor, the Shadowkhan still hadn't found any trace of the two.
"Goliath hasn't respawned yet."
Although the floor boss of the 17th Floor respawned quickly, refreshing every week like a weekly boss, it was usually defeated within a day of appearing because it was too close to the first safe floor.
Along the Wall of Sighs, Takatsuki continued to rush upwards and soon arrived at the 16th Floor.
"Could they still be on the 15th Floor?"
Takatsuki wasn't sure when Bell and his party were attacked, but the time he had been back was already quite long. If they were still on the 15th Floor…
Takatsuki didn't even dare to imagine.
Another ten minutes passed. Just as Takatsuki reached the entrance of the 15th Floor and was about to recall the Shadowkhan Soldiers, a ninja soldier suddenly appeared from the shadows.
Although they couldn't speak, Takatsuki realized that it had found the target when it suddenly appeared.
"Take me!"
The ninja soldier nodded and then sped away in a certain direction, leading Takatsuki.
Along the way, they encountered many monsters attracted by Takatsuki's running, but before they could even get close to Takatsuki's body, they were completely blown up, along with their magic stones, by Heaven's Stairway floating beside Takatsuki.
This was the smokeless explosion ability from Killer Queen's Stand, which left no traces or explosion sounds, thus not attracting more monsters by causing a huge commotion.
Soon, Takatsuki saw a huge cave, and outside the cave, there were a large number of Shadowkhan hidden in the surrounding shadows, and he knew that they had arrived at the location.
However, seeing the Shadowkhan hidden around them, he knew that the two of them were temporarily out of danger.
Because Takatsuki still wanted to hide the existence of the Shadowkhan from outsiders, he gave an order that they didn't need to appear unless they were in danger.
As Takatsuki arrived, the surrounding Shadowkhan slowly sank into the shadows, and Takatsuki continued to walk into the cave.
"Who is it!"
As soon as he stepped into the cave, Takatsuki heard a familiar voice.
"Welf, it's me, Takatsuki."
"Takatsuki!"
Liliruca's surprised voice also came out. Takatsuki turned a corner and finally saw the two, no, three people hidden there.
"Takatsuki, please, save this adventurer. If it weren't for this adventurer, Liliruca and Welf would not have been able to hold on until now."
Takatsuki looked at an adventurer kneeling in front of Liliruca, no... it should be a puppet.
When he saw him, Takatsuki remembered that when he passed by here, he encountered the corpse of an adventurer. Because he was practicing puppet making at the time, he used that adventurer as a template to create a puppet.
The adventurer puppet kneeling on the ground had both arms completely broken, and its face, legs, and body were covered with scars and defects.
"He..."
As Takatsuki looked at the puppet in front of him, wondering how to explain to Liliruca, the adventurer puppet looked up at Takatsuki.
Under Takatsuki's gaze, the puppet nodded heavily at Takatsuki, and then, as if it had completed its mission, it fell heavily to the ground.
"Adventurer!"
Liliruca, in a panic, just wanted to help him up when she saw the 'adventurer's' body slowly dissolving like heated butter.
"Ah!"
Liliruca's hands froze, and she looked at the remains of the puppet with an expression as if she was about to cry.
"Sure enough, the Dungeon's ghost."
Welf suddenly spoke as if he had confirmed something.
"Ghost?"
Liliruca looked at Welf somewhat uncertainly. Welf nodded heavily: "This is what I heard from an adventurer named Kiek at the tavern."
"He, like us, encountered a monster feast in the Dungeon and was saved by a nameless adventurer who refused to speak. And it is said that he is not the only one who has encountered this."
Looking at the remains of the puppet that had turned into a puddle of white substance and was gradually seeping into the ground, Welf didn't know what it was, but he could easily tell that it was not human.
"Although I don't know what he is, I think he should disappear like this after saving people and waiting for them to leave the 16th floor. It's just because the two of us didn't leave, so he kept protecting us. Now that he sees Takatsuki has arrived, he can leave with peace of mind, right?"
Welf said this to Liliruca.
"So, this ghost didn't die?"
"Of course, after all, that's a ghost."
Takatsuki didn't know if Welf was fabricating a lie to comfort Liliruca, or if he really felt that way, but since someone had already covered for him, Takatsuki didn't plan to say anything more.
"I brought some medicine. Let's replenish our stamina and go back. Bell is already very worried."
"Bell! Is he alright!"
Takatsuki nodded: "Don't worry, it's resolved."
"It's good that Bell is fine."
Welf stood up from the ground with effort, took the potion from Takatsuki's hand, and drank it in one gulp: "Thank you for going to all this trouble for us."
"It's fine, let's leave early so Bell doesn't worry."
Even as Bell's teammate, Takatsuki did not expose his ability to cross space. He took Welf and Liliruca step by step, returning to the surface via the regular path. Monsters that appeared along the way were immediately pierced by a sharp blade appearing from the air, and then the weapon, along with the magic stone, was retrieved into the King's Treasure.
When he rushed there, he was in a hurry to save people and couldn't slowly collect magic stones, so he could only use his Stand ability to annihilate the magic stones and monsters together. When he returned, he didn't have so many scruples.