Congratulations! Today marks the end of the first Event Quest, successfully completed by Party Tasianna through being the first to reach the final floor of [Manethala’s Nest] and the fulfilling their last task. As such, all progress inside the dungeon will be halted, with your party’s final score determined by the number of floors you have reached. Everybody still alive will be transported out of the dungeon through space-time magic; to ensure your safety, please do not move. Aside from unlocking the winning party’s unique Jobs, everybody may acquire their reward by praying to a shrine dedicated to any of the six Origin Gods. Under the watch of the Goddess of Water, Plesia, and the Goddess of Earth, Crustacia, you have all done well. May those who embraced the challenge strive to rise even higher, and may the dead rest in peace and their memories remembered by those who lived.
[Manethala’s Greatest Gambit] has now ended!
The announcement from the Divine System sent to everybody in Inkoran-Tazul was met with surprise at first, for nobody had thought the event would end so soon. Only a week had passed since the first parties entered the dangerous rank A dungeon. Although not experienced with this dungeon, many adventurers, even those far below rank A, had bet at least a month would have passed before anybody would overcome the challenges on each of the 15 floors.
However, those who had entered Manethala’s dungeon before knew all too well how whimsical the dungeon master was. If one faced his trials head-on, treasures and benefits would be the rewards one would receive, for nothing could be gained without some risk. This was the central theme around the dungeon, and it allowed many to skip through floors to reach the lower ones if one accepted his gambits.
Still, practically no one believed it would be finished this soon. Even if one was strong enough to overcome the many challenges inside, it would physically take time to trek through the dungeon floors due to the walls and ceilings being indestructible. This was always the case for normal dungeons; meaning, Manethala was purposely hurrying people through the Event Quest.
That was the only possible answer … but it didn’t matter to anybody in attendance.
“They did it! Princess Fargryneill!”
“Haha! We got the best from the alliance; two blessed oughta beat it!”
“Saelarial and the Ankor-Nazta keep on winning! Haha, the Earth Mother got our backs, tazongs!”
Although a week had gone by, the festive atmosphere of Inkoran-Tazul hadn’t subsided thus far. It was due to the many drop-outs retelling stories of what happened inside, garnering many listeners willing to even pay to keep up with the newest progress of the expedition force.
In fact, one group of opportunistic adventurers even decided to tag along the main expedition group like looters waiting for a warring army to fight. They would watch and document everything, and once something monumental happened, one member would leave the dungeon by giving up, allowing them to return to the surface to act as storytellers.
It was the way of the bards, and unsurprisingly, one of the members of this party was one. An ingenious idea they came up with after they had heard about the expedition party led by Tasianna, composed of many blessed and talented warriors from the western alliance between Saelariel, Loatryx, Caedhul, and Ankor-Nazta. With support parties aiding them in their dungeon dive, this expedition force was like a battalion compared to the multitude of five-man parties. Their victory was assured.
Although they weren’t victors when it came to the Event Quest, those who managed to survive and make a profit from the dungeon still greatly benefitted. The jubilation continued because of them, and it only caused more and more people to join the Event, looking for some sort of prize. While some participants were disappointed at it ending so soon, the first Event was still a great success.
As such, when the news broke, the small hub in front of Manethala’s dungeon exploded in cheers for the success of the first party … but only for a moment, as everything was replaced by screams in the next.
Brrraaaruk! The sound of rock breaking apart, showering everything before it with dust and fragments.
As the cheering crowd turned around, the floor before the entrance hall for [Manethala’s Next] began breaking apart. Something looking like a rock golem flew out of it before an unknown force suddenly shoved everybody down onto their knees.
Panic spread throughout the confused crowd, only for [Terror (Major)] to assault every single one of them as the golem began falling down from the sky, having lost what force keeping it in the air. Sadly, although many wanted to run, they couldn’t, for Maagneil’s golem still had its gravity power active.
Death brandished its scythe upon the cheering crowd, leaving naught but silence, until …
Boooom!
… the festival was stricken with dread, filling the air with cries and the ground with the dead.
“Brother! Noooooo! No, no, no!”
“Why is the ground b-breaking apart! Help!”
The metallic roar of Maagneil’s golem barely drowned out of the cries of the many. Its footsteps shook the earth as it attempted to flee the scene. Underneath its feet were the crushed remains of elves, humans, dwarves, and beastmen, completely disregarded by the man piloting the golem. More bystanders quickly became his victims until he finally disabled the gravity effects coming from the aberration he placed inside the soulless husk of his first child.
Master said not to overuse it, otherwise the aberration will run out of mana before he can refuel it. Maagneil grimaced as he checked the blue screen coming from the catalyst inserted in the middle of the golem’s cockpit. A red light was blinking, warning him the energy core of the construct was nearly empty. Broggart can’t die again! Not again! Not again! Gods, please, please, don’t let my son die again! I beg of you!
However, his selfish wish was heard by none, as the soldiers guarding the area had arrived to rescue the injured and to stop the sudden attack. The morale of these dwarves did not waver as they faced the giant being, for their pride and duty compelled them to act.
However, Maagneil only saw them as ants. The red rebellion orb in his left hand was now useless, as he was outside the dungeon, as such, he let it fall onto the ground. He touched the catalyst connecting the golem with his left, before using the brown orb on his right—the one containing the powers of the Earth Elemental Emperor—to control the very earth he was walking on as if he was a geomancer.
“Run, run! Argh, golems are spawning from the ground!”
Using its power, Maagneil commanded the earth to break apart and morph into tendrils, destroying everything in their path. In addition, stone statues of warriors and archers were constructed right in front of the fleeing populace and groups of soldiers. With callous strikes, anything standing in their master’s way was quickly sliced down.
The damage the golem took during its battle against Aurora and the expedition force didn’t slow it down, as most of the damage was focused on its upper body. Its offensive might, on the other hand, was greatly diminished due to Vifi’Yok slicing off its gun arm. Regardless, Maagneil still had precise control over the earth with the Elemental Emperor and his “dragon killer,” the miniature dragonator drill, was still intact to fight off anybody.
And he truly needed this as the people responsible for his current plight had arrived.
The sound of searing hot fire blasting through the air sent a shiver down the old dwarf’s spine. With a loud gulp only he could hear echoing inside his large construct, he slowly turned around, only to grit his teeth until one of them cracked in half from the force. There, flying with her crimson-scaled wings, the crimson-scaled dragonewt princess with glowing, white tints covering her scaled body as she looked down in horror. Her agape dragon head showed him clearly the rage that was about to explode.
After all, Maagneil too had seen this look before. He knew the horror, fury, and despondency showing on her face. He had felt it thrice. First when his wife died during the birth of their second son, then when his favorite son, Broggart, was exiled, and finally when his son came back home dead.
His love for his wife transformed into his grooming of Broggart to become the next heir of his clan, while he neglected his second son due to the latter “performing matricide.” His efforts to make the Luedbrumdar clan the greatest during his lifetime pushed him into making contact with his current employer, somebody who took advantage of his greed for wealth and power.
Now, everything he had been working for all these years was breaking apart. The world would see him a criminal, a zuekluk, but he couldn’t care less at this point. All he wanted was for his son to return. His last pleasant memory of his wife … even if he had to consort with a demonkin to assure Broggart returned, no matter how.
Rise!
Now running away from his pursuers, Maagneil didn’t care what happened to himself any longer. He drew onto the power of the Earth Elemental Emperor, forcing the former ruler of the earth element to use all his mana. It didn’t matter what happened to him, as long as he could deliver the construct and his son’s body to his employer.
[“Stop …”] The elemental pleaded, noticing it wasn’t just absorbing Maagneil’s mana, but also the mana coursing through the construct, the mana supplied by Broggart’s body acting as a power source.
The “perfect dwarf” the elemental turned Broggart into was a being of mana trapped inside a vessel of flesh and blood. Unlike Goddess Ilsaphone who had successfully assimilated faefolk into the body of flesh, the elemental’s creation was little more than a battery who was being controlled by a demonic vessel for a demonkin’s soul.
The Sin of Greed; one of three desire sins alongside gluttony and lust. They compelled someone to acquire everything not because they needed it, but because they wanted it. The mental corruption caused by the aberration had affected Maagneil, turning him insane as many of his former friends and business partners noticed. This creation was now about to affect the Earth Elemental Emperor as well.
I-I … I want Crustacia’s downfall! Invader! Demonic Edjurlian goddess, you taint Peolynca with your filth and took away my divinity! You took away my path to ascension! This world is not yours, this is my home … You and your fellow aggressors took everything away from us emperors! … I will correct everything.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Two beads of black light appeared on the catalyst trapping the mana of the emperor. Any sense of rationality was overwhelmed by the elemental negative feelings.
My failed creation does not deserve to live for betraying me for the harlot. I will bring you down, Crustacia …
“Arrrrrrrrrrgh!” Maagneil screamed before taking out a vial with black fluid he had gotten from his employer in the case of an emergency. He drank it. “Yes! Yes! Take everything! Destroy them!”
[“… Yes, feel the power of a contracted elemental, new world.”]
The catalyst’s bright brown light grew in intensity just as Manethala charged out of his dungeon, also affected by demonic corruption. The mana around the golem swirled, causing the ground to crumple and turn into dust, only to surround the golem. While already taller than a medieval castle, the golem grew further in size due to the rock covering it.
With hands almost the size of a small cottage now, the lumbering golem stumbled forward while creating more and more gnomacotta warriors, to the point it looked like an army was protecting his retreat. With the shouts and screams of the many people in the festival, the earth began to rumble before it rose in the air for a moment, before it began to levitate with the Emperor’s [Geokinesis].
Like a discus, he sent himself and his army closer to the hub of Inkoran-Tazul, hellbent on purging his land from the intruders and his failed creations. Meanwhile, his army kept growing and growing with no signs of stopping.
“Hruuuuuuaaaarghhh!”
However, this crazed duo wasn’t the only threat, as the rank A drake ruler of [Manethala’s Nest] roared, only for a giant sword made from water to strike him on the back. That was the [Torrent Magic Lv. 3] spell, [Azure Blade].
Without any pause, [Kraken’s Destruction] conjured up a large water tentacle to smack the drake’s head hard, while [Perilous Tidefall] summoned a high-pressured water stream from the sky, reducing the carapace on the drake’s back into dust.
“My apprentice, look before you! Perform your duty as a Champion of Aurena!” The caster of these three high-tier spells called out to the youngest dragon princess. “Leave this to us!”
Kushlek’zar, Hestia’s mage master, softly landed onto the ground with the help of his dinosaur-styled water golems. After being launched into the air during his attempt to subdue the drake, this was the only way for he and the other people responsible for the task to survive the fall.
However, the five other members didn’t require his aide, for they were all rank A adventurers by their own right.
Tehmrayn, a Champion of the water pantheon and a previous ally of Hestia, gathered water around himself to weaken his fall. Midirn, the current heir apparent to the dragonewt clan of Kargryxmor, crashed onto the ground with Yorshka, both easily surviving it due to them being dragonewt dragoons. Azelfa, a Saint of Zephira, stood in the air through his [Aerokinesis], readying his bow at the rampaging drake. While Rudigan, Champion of Crustacia, felt not even a tickle as his heavily-armored body dug into the ground.
Five rank A adventurers, five of them being blessed. It was a good number to combat a rank A monster according to the adventurer guilds. However, with them was also Tehmrayn, a level 161 naga blessed by the God of Tridents and Divers, Zennithra. He was rank S and with him around, the recommended number and quality of hunters here was beyond enough.
This wasn’t even including the saurians under Kushlek’zar’s command nor Yorshka’s husband. All of them knew exactly from a single look that they were not needed to stop Maagneil, they were needed to stop the rampaging drake.
[“If you can, don’t kill him!”] Hestia responded, relying on her elders and more experienced fighters to handle one side, while she acted on her duty as a Champion of Aurena and her priestess. It was her duty to protect the people in danger and grant the white grace.
However, while she worried about the people before her, she also took a quick look at the ones underneath her—the many injured who survived the fight with Galg, and those who didn’t.
“We’re fine!” One of the injured students, Nishio, shouted despite bleeding from his eye. Adjusting his broken glasses, he reassured Hestia that they could handle the rest here. “Don’t let us hold you back! Do what you have to.”
“We got this, don’t worry!” Tatsuya supported him, before taking out Hestia’s pair of [Room] runes and the last antidote for [Winter’s Gift] he had on himself.
He gave the bottle to Saori, while he opened up the portal, shocking a waiting Asaka as she looked through the portal to witness the chaos happening inside the city. Tatsuya explained to her about the situation, causing the responsibility-hating girl to grimace at having to heal people to aid Hestia. Already being responsible for a few lives was pretty nerve-wracking.
While Hestia could continue healing everybody now that she was up on the surface again, her core was about to break. The strain of being in her overdrive mode flying through the dungeon to catch up with Maagneil had taken its toll. While she wasn’t close to [Arcane Fever] yet, the arcane corruption was building up, and keeping [Sun, Consume All] active would only hasten the process.
“Hey, Asaka!” Yorshka called out for her. “I’ve trained you long enough since we departed from the church, not to mention how you’ve gone away and found another path for you to help others. Trust in yourself! Show Elrick you’re not that annoying little brat anymore!”
Saori laid a hand on her shoulder. “I have always said this, even back at Shiroko, but you are talented. No ‘delinquent’ who hated me, your classmates, and the school would have been able to maintain the minimum needed scores to stay there. Rich or not. You just need to find the meaning for you to grab onto your talents!”
The teacher then pointed at her student’s new amulet, one designed for her role as a Saintess of Ilsaphone. “That is your proof. Ilsaphone might be the Goddess of Death and Necromancy, but she chose you to be her blessed. She chose to create a race about death finding a new life. She gave you an empty vessel magic made from light and dark. This is your choice, not your families or mine. We can do this even without your help; you only need to choose if you want to help. Just like when you chose to help those beastmen slaves!”
Asaka stared at Saori for a moment, but her eyes quickly wandered over to the side, distracted by the loud screams for help in the distance. She closed them and pushed Saori’s hand away. “Hestia, teleport me over here!”
Asaka! Hestia’s mouth curved up. She flew over, quickly had her fast travel to this location through the sub-space.
“Keep it open! We’re making a clinic here, everybody who can still move, we need to get the injured here!” She then conjured up the ying-yang magic circle of hers before it turned into a lens. Through it, Asaka could finally use the blessing given to her by Ilsaphone—[Moonlight Guider].
Her ability to speak and control the undead entailed more than just that, she is a blessed of the Goddess of Death and controller of the cycle of reincarnation. She could sense the soulless husk of Broggart’s controlled body, and she could see the many dead before her … but also those with a waning soul, before they were ready to move on to the next life.
“There!” She shouted. “Three adults, one kid, and three elders are about to die! Get them over here!”
She then smacked the lens into her hands, turning it into a beige slime ball before throwing it towards the location the fatally injured were. Seeing her like this, King Fugnarus ordered whoever was still able to move to listen to her, allowing Asaka enough time to heal whoever was injured with her.
I don’t need to help here. That thought entered Hestia’s mind as she turned her attention to those able to fight.
Saori, Ellaine, Grimnir, Fargryneill, Vifi’Yok, the shadow pack, and King Fugnarus were all part of her party, but after reuniting with the rest, she also had Tasianna, Shay, and Beth with her. The students had to take care of their wounds, and those strong enough had to fight Manethala. There were—
“Your Highness!”
There were still two more.
“Pradreo! Skardrvo!”
The silver-scaled Nordor and the black-scaled Kargryxmor dragonewts acting as the Loatryxian ambassadors for Ankor-Nazta. Both seasoned dragoons, although not as strong as the many who had fought and died during the battles against Galg. To serve their princess, these two had not given up their lances just yet.
With a new set of allies, Hestia smiled as she transformed back into her dragon form, regaling everybody with the crimson daughter of Eltharion, Emperor of Dragonkins. As everybody boarded onto her body, she took flight.
She dispelled her [Sun, Consume All] by throwing the large sun into the devastated festival, healing everybody there from their injuries and destroying the many gnomacotta warriors, before flying away. Now back on the surface and the real sun in the skies, she didn’t need her fake one any longer, and could commit the rest of her mana to the rest of the battle.
Tatsuya and Kyouya are already moving, huh? There will be more people to heal.
Their trip with Hestia had allowed these two young men to grow. While their levels didn’t quite reflect their growth, the number of fights they had to endure alongside Hestia was the mark of the Aurora, the party cursed by terrible encounters. Acting as Asaka’s hands, they were dashing around, rescuing anybody as fast as they could.
Hestia could have done all of this by herself. She could heal, rescue, and tend if she had the time to be a doctor, but right now time was in short supply. This was the reason Hestia required more people to help her, and she got them in those three. The Hub city would soon need Asaka’s ability to heal, for Hestia was needed for the fighting.
A Champion to battle, and a Saintess to lead and heal; although the dragon girl might have protested that she was an “Idol of Aurena” that embodied both roles, this was how a Champion and Saint were supposed to work in tandem.
Passing through the city, King Fugnarus suddenly asked Hestia to allow him to reach the royal castle first, prompting the latter to allow him to fly on Shay’s wyvern back. With the two gone, Beth also transformed back into her true form and took to the skies, finally feeling like she was a wyvern guard for her Mistress’s dragon daughter.
There, with a dragon's eye view from the sky, they finally found Maagneil. Guarded by his many earth golems, the giant “gundam” had broken through the walls of the Hub, all while a large mounted crossbow was shooting log-sized bolts at him. However, with the Earth Elemental Emperor having gone feral with rage, they weren’t fighting against a dwarf and his invention, but rather the former master of the earth itself.
The ground splinted right open, further destroying the land beneath everything. The more free land it had, the more the emperor could grow its army. The more the people screamed, the more his army would become stronger from the experience reaped.
It had been too long now since anybody had witnessed the power of a wild elemental at the tier of an emperor. The creator of the dwarves was also the creator of the earth spirits, gnomes, and he utilized the beings he created for his own desires.
[“Maagneil!”] The voice of a girl resounded throughout the panicked city, heard within everybody’s mind before music began to play.
“In the midst of the desert ♫
A bright ray of light shines ♫
Pure and brave, that she was, as she walked ♫
She was the ideal for me ♫
The bringer of children’s smiles ♫
Alas, the world seemed bleaker without her ♫”
A barrier made from light began to surround the populace, both civilians and the soldiers, protecting them from the stone golems. [The Heir of Hope]’s shield grew in strength the more people were around, before Hestia switched over [My Darkest Thoughts] to prevent Maagneil from performing the gravity ability, ignorant of the fact he couldn’t use it right now to protect his son’s body.
Both stared at each other, waiting for the other to attack first. Who was stronger this time? The Earth Elemental Emperor in the possession of the dragon killer, or would it be the dragoness who would win this battle once again?
Well, there was still one more rematch she had to do first, one edged with blood on both sides.
“Look out!” Grimnir shouted as he narrowly blocked an incoming spear toss from hitting Hestia’s right wing. He looked down, pointing at the person below.
Galg. She grit her teeth, remembering exactly how many of her fans he had killed up until now just for a chance to get to her. How he could have been the reason for the deaths of any of her friends.
[“Go. I can handle this.”] Saori pushed Hestia forward before transforming back into her fenrir form.
“Yeah, we got this. I have a little helper this time who can help me fight properly,” Ellaine stated, indirectly mentioning the re-awakened Klea’Hatma.
“I’m bringing that damn fool down,” Grimnir stated, joining up with the former two.
Seeing them all on board, Vifi’Yok couldn’t help but sigh. She patted Hestia on the back, before joining up with the golem crew, confusing Hestia as she thought Vifi’Yok’s job was to protect Hestia for Franz. Fortunately, the flirty archdemon of lust quickly explained the situation.
[“She smelled my mana when I woke up. She’s pretty curious now, hiehie,”]
Of course …
As such, the party split into two to cover the two threats before them. Saori, Ellaine, Grimnir, Vifi’Yok, and the shadow pack against Maagneil, while Tasianna, Fargryneill, Beth, Pradreo, and Skardrvo would deal with Galg for the final time.
“You killed many under my command, dragonslayer. And you made armor from injuring my princess,” Tasianna glared down before transforming into her [Elvenize (Moderate)] form to regain her wings. “As my lady’s royal guard and the owner of a unique Job now, I will show you the true might of the ice element!”
[“You will rue the day you made that armor, human!”] Beth roared out as her body instantly froze the moisture around her, creating an ice armor. [“This time, I fight as a wyvern.”]
“Dragonkin slayer!” Pradreo and Skardrvo shouted. “For the crimes of injuring an imperial princess of Kargryx, you are hereby sentenced to death. For the memories of our comrades, you will be punished for the sake of their peace!”
Mana mist exuded from Fargryneill’s body as she transformed back into her kirin-dragon form, no longer scared of people seeing her in this form. She jumped off her younger sister’s back before flying on her own, gazing down at the person who caused a trauma so severe, it changed the young woman’s attitude, humbling her. That fear was gone.
[“One more time, Galg. You will pay for what you did to my sister and the dragoons fighting for us!”] she said as her black scales began to glow neon purple.
[“She’s right.”] Hestia nodded as a giant red magic circle appeared in the sky. [“This will be the last time. After all, you won’t give up no matter how much we fight until you’re dead.”]
Galg shook his head. He pointed his right blade at Hestia.
“I am the hunter … dragon.”