Under the night sky, as Artemis watched the figures of the boy and girls battling the Great Dragon in the distance, she never imagined that this was the moment that would change her destiny.
A few hours earlier.
The stars and moon were scattered across the sky, and a gentle breeze blew past, carrying the aroma of cooking smoke and dinner. In the inn's lobby, everyone tasted a type of dry cheese and pickled fish said to be a local specialty of the small town. The girls kept their distance from it, but Isagi thought it was okay—didn't it taste just about the same as stinky tofu?
He dipped bread into scalding hot milk, pairing it with jam and roast meat.
After a fairly sumptuous dinner, Artemis suggested that Isagi and the girls, having just traveled from afar, should all rest for the night and prepare for tomorrow's battle. The Great Dragon was still some distance from the town and wouldn't arrive that quickly. Conserving energy before a battle was very necessary. However, Isagi stated it was completely unnecessary.
"Let's just go directly."
Finish it early to rest better.
Ryuu-senpai and Lefiya thought the same. Thus, the two Goddesses who had just returned could only lead Isagi's group out of the small town again after the meal, riding horses toward the distance.
They did not ride the Wyvern they arrived on, as it was also a dragon-type monster in a certain sense. When facing a powerful Great Dragon, even sensing its aura from afar would cause it to fear or even flee directly.
Under the night. Hoofbeats were urgent.
Crossing fields and vast plains, they could already see the colossal behemoth crouching and resting at the end of the horizon from afar.
Somewhat surprised by the decisiveness of the boy and girls, Artemis did not suspect the adventurers sent by the City were unreliable or anything. On the contrary, in this world, there was no one stronger than the adventurers of Orario, let alone the Astrea Familia.
She had met Ryuu once before. During the [Great Feud] era, the Moon Goddess had led her own Familia on a long-distance raid for five days, finally arriving at the City to participate in the final battle against the Dark Familia.
Moreover, her relationship with Astrea was quite good. Later, hearing that such a thing had happened and the Goddess of Justice had left the City, she had felt bad for a while. She hadn't expected that after just a few short years, the Astrea Familia would return to the City and had already become so powerful?
Even... The battle began extremely quickly.
Isagi was very experienced in how to "subjugate" Great Dragons, especially this kind of flightless fellow before them. While Artemis held her bow and arrow, still thinking of going to help, the flying magical slashes formed from azure blue had already fallen like rain in the distance, forcibly peeling open the Great Dragon's scales, severing its flesh, and leaving it skinless and battered.
The Great Dragon's roar shook the heavens and the earth. Yet, the only response it received was the gathered colossal magic power, and arrows interwoven with fire and ice.
Lefiya stood in the distance. The Elf maiden, holding her staff high, constantly chanted magic. Those incomparably thick magic arrows began to mix with each other, expanding and shining brilliantly. Magic arrows condensing the triple attributes of "Light," "Fire," and "Ice."
In itself, three completely different magics were forcibly "twisted" together by the invisible large hand of spiritual force. This was a very, very complex structure, and it was also the "answer" the maiden had finally arrived at after thinking constantly since leveling up to Level 4.
But Lefiya felt it wasn't enough. The current form was merely a "prototype" of sorts; the Elf maiden still felt something was missing. Especially after hearing from Isagi and Ryuu about the magic they witnessed Riveria release in the Deep Levels—a single strike that completely annihilated a "BOSS" of at least Level 6 or Level 7.
Could she... achieve that level as well?
"Burn fiercely."
Wearing the [Flying Boots] given by Miss Asfi, and accompanied by the triple colossal magic power streaking across the night sky, the wooden sword in Ryuu's hand once again blossomed with countless starlight, wrapping the slender blade within in crimson fire.
At this moment, the maiden utilized everything she had comprehended from her battle with the [Twin Moon Knight]. The firelight in her hand was naturally inferior to the giant arrows released by Lefiya, but what Ryuu had learned was the more "precise" lethality she should exhibit when dealing with such large enemies.
Ais's figure simultaneously appeared in her mind. During this time teaming up with the golden-haired maiden, she discovered that Ais was very experienced in dealing with large monsters. Finding weaknesses and attacking where they least expect it.
And for a Great Dragon, the first weakness visible to the naked eye was the eyes!
The crimson rapier suddenly pierced through the Great Dragon's incomparably deep golden-yellow pupil. Like piercing into calm lake water, a small spray of blood splashed out. Then, in the next instant, Ryuu immediately increased the magic output in her hand. Disregarding everything else, she directly let it surge to the limit!
Hiss!
In this instant, due to the injection of magic power, the flames did not simply burn more fiercely. What followed was a "temperature" that continued to rise. A scorching scent assaulted the face, accompanied by billowing thick smoke, the Great Dragon's roar of pain, and its massive head suddenly thrashing about.
It was effective! The Great Dragon's eye was melted.
Generally speaking, so-called "Enchantment Magic" was actually a type of continuous output magic. In Isagi's words, it was "buffing" oneself.
Alise's Enchantment Magic, Agaris Alvesynth, had three forms: wrapping only the blade, wrapping the whole body, and then gathering it to swing out and explode.
Ryuu could use all of them, but they were far from the power of her friend in her prime. Because the Elf maiden's magic, Astrea Record, could only inherit their magic, not their skills. For adventurers, their own magic and skills were often closely linked, often producing an effect where one plus one was greater than two.
Magic that lost its skill bonus was like rootless weeds; its power dropped by more than half. This was also what had always troubled Ryuu. Astrea Record indeed brought her strong power, but when fighting monsters of the same level or stronger, its effect was greatly discounted.
But Isagi, as well as that [Twin Moon Knight], had inspired her. Why couldn't she create her own Agaris Alvesynth? "Inheritance" was about continuing to move forward to replace those who had died, not marking time in the same place.
In that tiny instant, Ryuu understood. Learning from Isagi, she directly injected colossal magic power into the interior of her Enchantment Magic. In this instant, it was like opening the door to a new world. Although it was simply pure and simple—instantly raising the "temperature" of the weapon—it was enough, because this was just a beginning.
Accompanied by specks of starlight, the rapier in the maiden's hand, crimson to the extreme, emitted an incomparably blinding light under the night. Wherever it passed, the Great Dragon's scales and flesh were all "melted."
Isagi, flying in the sky far away, saw this and couldn't help but exclaim, "Holy crap, a laser sword?!"
Furthermore, unbeknownst to whether she had mastered another new ability, after piercing into the Great Dragon's body, the longsword in the maiden's hand could actually explode directly, blasting out a not-so-small pit of flesh and blood before her eyes.
This move was truly completely learned from the [Twin Moon Knight]; the crimson longsword she wielded would also explode while slashing down. Moreover, Ryuu used the simplest method. That is, unstable magic power would naturally produce a quite terrifying self-detonation. So, as long as she slightly and deliberately "interfered" with the longsword already injected with a large amount of magic power, it would naturally explode with a boom.
She had learned another new little tidbit. Unknowingly, Ryuu even somewhat understood why Isagi liked fighting. It was indeed very interesting. This feeling of constantly becoming stronger oneself, obtaining new abilities, and defeating even more powerful monsters...
The battle went very smoothly.
Artemis even found that there was completely nothing for her to do. Originally, she had a backup plan: if the subjugation didn't go smoothly, she and the young group would attract the Great Dragon to change its original trajectory, heading towards the uninhabited wilderness, while sending Asfi to the School District and the City to seek support.
But it seemed that wasn't needed now. It could even be said that among all the [Visiting Dragon] calamities the Goddess had dealt with, this was the easiest one.
It wasn't that the Great Dragon before them wasn't powerful enough—it had at least the strength of Level 5 or higher—but it simply wasn't enough to look at in the hands of the boy and girls of the Astrea Familia. Had the younger generation of adventurers in the City grown to such a level?
Orario was the center of the world. The strongest adventurers gathered there, stepping onto the arduous path to become [Heroes]. Truly amazing.
When the boy held his long blade and severed the head on the Great Dragon's massive body with that incomparably huge "blade of light" gathered from pure magic power, crimson dragon blood soaked the earth, also signifying the end of this commission.
Lefiya ran excitedly to dig out its Magic Stone.
"This is the Dragon Heart! It should be a very valuable drop item, right?"
"I don't know... After all, I haven't seen a dragon like this."
"Let's go back and ask Fels."
Neither Isagi nor the girls had seen the Great Dragon before them—including in the "Adventurer's Guide" issued to everyone by the Guild. This was normal. Dragon-type monsters were usually located in the Deep Levels. Moreover, a thousand years ago, there were many powerful "individual" Dragon-types. It was quite normal for some ancient fellows who ran to the surface not to exist in the Dungeon at all.
As the Great Dragon's massive body turned to flying ash and dissipated, the Moon Goddess in the distance still found it difficult to calm her heart for a long time.
Having solved the calamity of the [Visiting Dragon] many times, Artemis knew that outside the City, this was by no means such a simple matter.
In that barren land of the Far North, people were stationed there, constantly monitoring the movements of the Dragon Valley. Whenever a Great Dragon broke through the seal, they would immediately send news back to the School District. This was no easy task, because the surroundings of the Dragon Valley had long been alienated into a wilderness, a place where humans could no longer survive.
Subsequently, it involved constant tracking, confirming the Great Dragon's position, maintaining contact with the School District, and at necessary moments, attracting the Great Dragon's attention so it wouldn't advance toward towns. In this process, casualties were unavoidable.
Artemis recalled the past; many tragic scenes constantly welled up in the maiden deity's heart. But there was no other way. Because, to completely solve the problem of the [Visiting Dragon], the target of subjugation could only be the Black Dragon that caused all this, completing all of the Three Great Quests. And for that, a Hero was absolutely necessary.
However, Heroes needed to grow in Orario. So they could only endure. Including herself, and those people who voluntarily gave up everything to stay in the wilderness monitoring the Dragon Valley at all times—they all had to endure. Only on the day the Hero finally appeared would all the pain, suffering, and calamity... disappear.
So—
"Have you fallen for him?"
"???"
Looking at Aphrodite beside her with incredulous eyes, what was this idiot talking about?! Artemis certainly didn't have that kind of idea. Who would fall for someone after just meeting them and barely speaking a few sentences! No... It had nothing to do with that at all, okay!!
She was clearly thinking about the "Hero." But come to think of it, she had never heard of that boy before. When did he join the Astrea Familia? With such a high Level, he couldn't have leveled up in just the past year or two, right? Could it be a high-level adventurer Astrea found outside after leaving the City?
Suddenly, she felt the boy had become incomparably mysterious!
"Heheh~ Isn't that the look of being very interested in someone! Don't think you can hide it from the Goddess of Beauty!!"
Her interest was fundamentally not the kind that this fellow was thinking of! This idiot whose brain was full of nothing but yellow waste and pink bubbles!!
"Unexpected, truly unexpected. Artemis, you're actually this kind of Goddess~ Faced with an incomparably difficult and terrifying monster, falling for the powerful child who solves it lightly like a savior. Young, handsome, and looking very gentle too—and full of righteousness, harboring justice in his heart! After all, he is from the Astrea Familia."
"Although it's a bit cliché, it's still a classic, and it fits an old fossil like you, Artemis, very well!"
Facing Aphrodite who was always clamoring in her ear, the Moon Goddess only wanted to give this brainless fellow two solid punches. What was she thinking about all day? Honestly! She rolled her eyes at the other party several times with ill grace.
On the other side. Since the beginning, the Goddess of Beauty had been carefully observing Isagi, Ryuu, and Lefiya along the way. Smiling, her mind had long since moved on from teasing the Moon Goddess beside her.
As the Beauty Goddess governing "Love," although she couldn't see if a fellow Goddess truly harbored love in her heart, she could see the "scent" of incomparably sweet and beautiful happiness radiating from the children of the Lower World clearly!
So, subjugating a Great Dragon or whatever didn't matter to the Beauty Goddess at all! Next was the real "main course"...
She saw through the Elf maiden's "unrequited love" at a glance! No matter, let the greatest Goddess of Beauty help you achieve your dream!!
____
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