"Return, Haineko."
After finishing off the monster, Rayleigh dropped his Shikai.
The scattered ash pulled back toward the hilt, dragging the Magic Stone with it.
'Hmm?'
Suddenly, he caught two figures closing in fast, tracking the fading smoke of his Zanpakuto.
'At this speed...'
'There's no time to hide.'
Rayleigh gripped the hilt of Ruri'iro Kujaku in his left hand, his eyes locked on the incoming figures.
Just as the smoke pulled back into the blade, the two of them popped into view while catching the whole transformation.
Rayleigh's guard instantly dropped, replaced by pure shock as he realized who he was looking at:
Two figures.
One tall and one small.
The older one was a drop-dead gorgeous Elf with green hair and eyes. The younger one was a tiny blonde girl who looked like a porcelain doll.
Even with the massive age gap, both of them had goddess-level looks.
The blonde kid looked maybe seven or eight years old, but she was hauling around a longsword that looked way too heavy for her.
Still, she held that blade steady as a rock in her small hand, not shaking an inch.
The Elf on the other side... was giving off an insane amount of pressure!
'I absolutely cannot win this.'
Honestly, that was putting it lightly.
If she wanted to, she could wipe him off the map in a second, Rayleigh realized.
Her aura blew Tsubaki's right out of the water.
This had to be a high Level 5!
A Level 5 Elf with green hair and green eyes.
And that blonde kid...
Wait, this combo?
'No fucking way.'
Rayleigh had a pretty good guess who they were, but he was still blown away.
If they were who he thought they were, he never expected to run into them like this.
Nobody said a word for a few seconds.
The Elf beauty broke the silence first. Her voice was clear, cold, and smooth, but it carried this heavy, noble vibe.
"Young man, are you the Ghost of the Dungeon?"
The blonde kid next to her looked annoyed and impatient.
"Let's just beat him down first, then we can make him talk," she snapped.
Rayleigh: ???
'Wait, hold the fuck up.'
'This kid has zero chill!'
'You're going to beat my ass into the dirt without even asking who I am?'
"What the hell are you talking about, is it the Evilus?" Rayleigh asked, his guard shooting up to 120% as he watched their hands.
"I have no clue what you're talking about," he said.
The Elf woman stayed totally cool, her face completely blank as she spoke again.
"Lately, the Guild has been getting bizarre reports about Dungeon monsters just dropping dead out of nowhere. It's causing a lot of panic and It seems like it's connected to you."
She didn't even try to hide where she was looking. Her eyes were glued to Haineko in Rayleigh's hand.
Realizing what she was getting at, Rayleigh quickly cleared things up. "I'm just exploring the Dungeon."
Right then, the beautiful Elf noticed the crest on Rayleigh's gear.
"Are you with the Hephaestus Familia?"
"Yeah."
"I see. It looks like we've made a mistake and bothered you for no reason. But could you please come by the Guild later to clear this up?"
"Clear what up? What exactly am I supposed to explain?" Rayleigh frowned, totally lost.
Then, the woman's eyes dropped to Rayleigh's beat-up, torn armor.
"Have you been down here in the Dungeon this whole time?"
Rayleigh gave a small nod.
"I see. No wonder you don't know. The technique you were just using has been reported to the Guild as an anomaly by a bunch of Adventurers. There are already dozens of eyewitnesses."
"Let me introduce myself. I am Riveria of the Loki Familia. The Guild hired us to look into these sudden monster deaths. We thought the Evilus might be behind it... but it looks like we were wrong."
'Huh?' Rayleigh froze.
'Sudden monster deaths?'
Now that she spelled it out, it made sense.
The Dungeon was dark as hell, and Haineko controlled dust.
To hit a wider area, he hadn't been using tightly packed ash to pull off those flashy slashes.
But it still hit hard enough to kill.
If you weren't standing right next to him, it really would look like the monsters were just dropping dead out of nowhere.
'This actually blew up into a rumor?'
'I accidentally started a fucking urban legend and got the Guild involved?'
Rayleigh didn't even know what to say.
He was so hyped to grind his stats that he basically gave up on checking his surroundings, pouring all his focus into wiping out monsters.
'I never thought it would cause this much of a shitstorm.'
This was reality not a game, so.. everything you did had a ripple effect.
And just like he thought, this woman was Riveria.
Which meant the blonde loli next to her was Ais.
'She's so damn tiny...'
But it made sense, considering Riveria didn't look like the woman he remembered from the future either.
Right now, Riveria still had this young, girlish vibe to her.
It was a huge jump from the calm, collected "mom" of the Familia she would become later.
'Damn.'
That thought actually made him a little curious about the younger Riveria, the legendary "Tomboy Princess."
"Alright. I'll hit up the Guild later to clear the air."
The whole mess had already spooked the Guild enough to send the Loki Familia's heaviest hitter to check it out.
Before things got any more out of hand, it was best to squash it right now.
Plus, having the Guild and the Loki Familia's eyes on him was a golden ticket to advertise his Zanpakuto.
'But is a rumor alone enough to hook High-Class Adventurers?'
"Wait," the blonde loli next to Riveria suddenly piped up.
Ais glared at him, sounding stubborn and totally childish. "Riveria, why are you just taking his word for it? The Evilus hide who they are. He could be lying."
Rayleigh stared at the eight-year-old Ais, his head spinning.
Now that he thought about it, kid Ais was way more hot-headed and always looking for a fight!
Riveria sighed.
"Ais, calm down. Don't... Who's there?!"
Just as she was about to scold Ais, Riveria's face hardened, and she brought up her staff.
A dark shadow had popped up out of nowhere!
Riveria's face twisted in panic the second she felt its aura.
'That presence is...!'
"Wait, Ais! Get back here!"
The tiny blonde blur charged straight at the shadow.
Ais looked absolutely feral, like whatever that thing was had pushed her right over the edge.
Riveria barely took a step before a swarm of monsters burst out of the dirt, boxing her and Rayleigh in.
Riveria realized Ais's 'Skill' was being used against them.
The shadow was leaking a monstrous aura, practically screaming its location.
"Dammit... I'm sorry for dragging you into this."
Rayleigh grimaced at the horde closing in. It wasn't just Orcs, there were Imps, Dungeon Bats, and even a Silverback!
'These things belong on the deeper floors!'
This... this is an Irregularity!
...
'There are so many of them...'
'Fifty, sixty... Are there seriously seventy of them?'
Riveria raised her staff, and while Rayleigh watched in total shock, she caved an Orc's skull in with a single strike.
Its head was reduced to bloody paste!
'Even for a Level 5 Mage, that kind of raw strength is insane.'
If his absolute max damage output was around 2,000 to 3,000 DPS, Riveria's basic melee attack was easily cracking 10,000.
"Growl, Haineko!"
"Bloom in a frenzy, Ruri'iro Kujaku!"
Rayleigh's spiritual pressure exploded, ripping two different forces into the air.
Feeling that power, Riveria went pale.
The feeling was way too similar to a Mage casting Magic.
'This kid... is he a Mage?'
Originally planning to play bodyguard, Riveria slowed down, keeping a close eye on him.
Rayleigh swung Haineko's bare hilt.
Deep in the swarm, a small demon suddenly split right down the middle.
Seeing that, Riveria instantly figured out the whole ghost rumor.
'Wind?'
'No... is he... controlling the dust?'
'How strange.'
Staring at the wall of monsters, Rayleigh knew normal attacks were going to take way too long.
"Alright then."
"Cat Wheel Dance!"
The Cat Wheel Dance pulls all the loose ash in the area into a massive tornado, shredding anything caught inside.
It was one of Haineko's signature moves.
Following Rayleigh's lead, the tornado ripped through the horde, tearing the monsters apart.