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Gods.
A species that pursued pleasure above all else.
And the gods of Orario, more than most, treated the pursuit of pleasure as the whole point of descending to the lower world.
If you were not going to have fun, then why bother going to an amusement park at all?
Calling the lower world a playground for the gods was, in a way, not wrong in the slightest.
And at this moment, Freya, one of the worst troublemakers among the gods, had done something a little beyond the line.
...
"ROOOOAR!!!"
The One-Eyed Black Dragon breathed fire and turned everything in Orario into a sea of flames.
After exchanging a single move with Anos earlier, it had sensed the divine power within him.
Mistaking Anos for a god, the Black Dragon had immediately fled back toward the Dungeon.
And now, with the Dungeon itself bolstering it, it was unleashing its terrifying destructive force on everything around it.
This was absolute evil.
An absolutely overwhelming dragon.
The dragon that had defeated the great hero whose name was etched into human history.
The dragon that had devoured the great spirit, beloved child of the elements.
And in the original future, it was even the dragon that swallowed gods, a creature with the power to sink continents and destroy stars.
"Tch! Why? Why is this thing in the upper levels?"
Hermes frowned deeply.
He knew exactly how strong the One-Eyed Black Dragon was. Against weaker gods, it might even come out on top.
"What is Ouranos doing right now?"
Hermes immediately thought of the one god who could still act.
At the very least, someone had to drive this dragon back into the Dungeon.
Otherwise, countless divine Familias would suffer catastrophic losses.
And if no one dared enter the Dungeon anymore, then weapons would stop selling.
And if weapons stopped selling, then he would lose a fortune.
Then he noticed a golden figure.
Almost every Familia was fleeing, and the few that dared to advance had already been crushed.
Yet amid all of that, one blond girl was charging straight toward the Black Dragon.
"That's... the Sword Princess?"
Hermes recognized her silhouette at once.
"A fearless girl challenging an evil dragon. Not a bad story. But..."
Hermes narrowed his eyes.
There were far too few hero stories with women as the lead.
"Even with the wind at her back, she is no match for the dragon. The compatibility between dragons and maidens has never been a good one."
Hermes shook his head.
Still, he found it strange.
Why was the Sword Princess of Loki Familia charging the Black Dragon alone?
Why was she not waiting for the rest of her Familia?
And he could already tell something else.
At this moment, her power had risen past the Level 6 she should normally possess and reached a clean Level 7 or perhaps even higher.
The deeper Ais's hatred ran, the greater the power she could unleash.
It truly was a fearsome skill, one that lost nothing to Bell's skill of longing.
"Haaah~"
Wrapped in emerald light, Ais finally reached the Black Dragon.
Dodging the dragonfire that poured out without cease, she found an opening to strike.
Clang!
The sound of metal against something far harder rang out.
The Sword of Desperation was knocked aside, and Ais was forced to retreat immediately as a counterattack came crashing toward her.
Normally, the higher one climbed, the harder it became for even a genius to fight above their level.
Because by the time someone reached the upper ranks, they were not mediocrities.
They were geniuses too.
You were a genius.
They were geniuses.
And on top of that, they had reached the higher realm before you.
Fighting above your station under those conditions was no simple matter.
At this point, Ais had at least three layers of enhancement stacked onto herself.
Without them, her smooth skin would already have been scorched by the sheer heat around the Black Dragon.
Since ordinary attacks were not working, she had no choice but to rely on technique.
She could not use it as smoothly as Anos himself, and it consumed more stamina when she did, but in Ais's eyes, that price was absolutely worth paying for this level of comprehensive offensive power.
First Secret Sword, Rhinoceros Strike.
Taking full advantage of her superior mobility, Ais found another opening.
While the Black Dragon was in the middle of casting, she used the footwork Anos had taught her, that mysterious movement method, and slipped into its gap.
To use the Final Secret Sword in theory, one had to be in the state of One Blade Rakshasa.
Even in the improved version created by Anos, it still required at least a One Blade Shura-level state.
Ais's magic granted her extraordinary explosive force.
After Anos refined her control over it, she was now capable of producing an effect similar to One Blade Shura.
Ting!
"ROOOOAR!"
The Black Dragon's scales were pierced.
Its furious roar shook the whole of Orario.
Pain.
It had not felt pain in a very long time.
And that pain only drove its savage instincts further out of control.
Though it only had one eye left, no one doubted its might.
Before Ais arrived, it had already wiped out several Familias.
She was the first one to land a truly meaningful wound on it.
Dragons were the symbol of overwhelming strength.
"I should take its sight first."
Ais has made a dangerous decision.
Blinding a monster could create a tremendous advantage.
But attacking the eye required getting dangerously close to it, and that sent the risk soaring.
Seventh Secret Sword, Chasing Shadow.
After the briefest pause, Ais activated the instantaneous acceleration technique and drove her speed to its absolute limit.
But compared to the Black Dragon, Ais's combat experience was still far too lacking.
The Black Dragon had fought beings far stronger than she was.
And among them, there had been almost none whose talent fell behind hers.
Realistically, there was only one way for Ais to win.
A first-strike kill.
At the moment of first contact, she needed to use the Final Secret Sword, Chasing Shadow, and finish it in one blow.
There was no other path.
She had only one chance.
The first time she used it.
Once that first attack had passed, the Black Dragon would absolutely be ready for the second.
Just like now.
The One-Eyed Black Dragon had long since learned how adventurers thought.
At this point, it hardly even needed to look.
It could simply attack straight ahead.
Because the attack from the side was obviously bait, a feint meant to provoke a reaction.
This was the difference in experience.
Most of Ais's battle experience had been earned fighting monsters.
Yes, the monsters of the deeper floors grew more intelligent.
But they were nothing compared to the Black Dragon.
The Black Dragon had already prepared dragonfire in its mouth, simply waiting for Ais to approach its eye.
Over the years, far too many people had tried to target that eye, convinced the remaining eye must be its weakness.
And every single one of them had died.
"What?"
Ais realized something was wrong.
But it was already too late.
The Black Dragon's attack had been prepared in advance.
All she could do now was force her body off line and use the power of wind to avoid as much of it as possible.
"I'll... probably lose an arm."
Even in that instant, Ais coldly analyzed the situation and had already begun planning the next phase of the battle.
Pain did not matter.
Losing an arm did not matter.
Even losing her life did not matter.
As long as.
As long as she could kill this dragon.
And then, just before the dragonfire reached her.
A flower bloomed in front of Ais.
Projected Noble Phantasm, Rho Aias.
The dragonfire slammed into that impossibly radiant flower.
Crack!
One layer shattered.
Crack.! Crack!
Then another.
...
By the time the fifth layer broke, Ais had finally reached safety, and the Black Dragon's breath attack came to an end.
It was not that the One-Eyed Black Dragon could not continue.
It had simply decided to see who exactly this was, the one who had blocked at least eighty percent of the power in its breath.
Turning its gaze, it looked toward the new life-form that had appeared on the field.
And just as it expected.
It was the same one who had stood against it earlier at Ishtar Familia.
Before, it had not seen clearly enough.
After sensing the divine nature within Anos, it had mistaken him for a god whose seal had been broken.
But now it saw the truth.
The one standing before it was not a god at all.
And even if he were, he would only be the weakest kind imaginable, something it could crush without effort.
"ROOOOAR!!!!!!!!!"
The Black Dragon released another thunderous roar, this time making its intent to fight Anos unmistakably clear.
Unfortunately for it, Anos had no interest in dealing with that just yet.
He moved to Ais's side and took her hand.
"Are you all right?"
As he asked, the two of them rapidly withdrew farther from the Black Dragon.
Anos could command the wind simply through the world's natural affinity with him.
It was not the same as Ais's magic, but functionally it accomplished much the same thing.
"Anos..."
It took a full ten seconds after being carried away before Ais finally came back to herself.
It was not the Black Dragon's attack that had left her stunned.
It was Anos touching her so suddenly.
Even though they had physical contact all the time during training, she still blushed every single time.
And this time was no different.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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