The giant charged straight at me.
Fast?! It was enough to make me wonder how someone with such a bulky frame could move at that speed, but now was not the time for curiosity!
"Tch...!"
I immediately pivoted, attempting to dodge backward. But as if my struggle were nothing more than a joke, the giant snatched me with an enormous hand and slammed me violently into the ground.
"Guh?!"
Thump— thump—
My body bounced across the earth like a ball, the ground rumbling beneath me.
But the pain I felt was far from light.
My breath...!
That single attack had stolen the air from my lungs. At this rate...!
"Tch...?"
I braced myself for the next strike, but the giant did not press the attack further.
What was this? It didn't seem like he was wary of a counterattack.
"Tch... What are you thinking?"
"A little consideration. This must have been quite sudden for you."
At the giant's words, a surge of irritation flared within me.
It wasn't just because he had attacked me out of nowhere and then spoken so condescendingly.
If I had to put this feeling into words... yes. It might sound arrogant, but if I had to be honest...
How dare you look down on me?!
That was exactly it.
He's strong.
The opponent was by no means weaker than I was. No matter how I looked at him, he was a being I couldn't confidently say I'd beat even if I fought with everything I had.
He was a wall as immense as my old duel with Otaru. But what I felt now was not the despair of recklessness—it was a blazing, incandescent fighting spirit.
I had been dismissed by the man in front of me. I could no longer accept the inferiority I had once taken for granted.
"Now that's a better expression."
Hmph. Looking at the giant, who continued to smile mockingly, I thought to myself:
I am definitely going to land a hit on that smug face.
After all, in a fight like this, no matter how much you get beaten down, the first one to bleed from the nose is the loser.
From here on, I would target only the giant's face.
Clenching my one and only fist, I charged straight at him.
*
"Hmm...? Is Maxim not here today?"
"Seems that way. It's unusual for the captain to be absent."
At that same time, in the Zeus Familia, Zeus opened the conversation. He had noticed something out of the ordinary while they continued their peaceful breakfast, having already confirmed that the troublemaker Cranel was present.
Maxim. Zeus's first child and the one who oversaw all the members of the Zeus Familia. No, he was the strongest existence in all of Orario.
With his imposing appearance and the weighty personality that came with it, every member of the Familia relied on and revered their captain. His absence left them all puzzled.
Maxim always ate breakfast. Unless he was away on an expedition to the Dungeon, he was always the first to arrive in the dining room, regardless of the circumstances.
There was no special reason. If anything, it was simply his nature.
He always performed the same actions at the same time. It was simply Maxim's routine.
But today, that routine had been broken. As the members slowly realized the situation, a ripple of unease spread through the group.
"What, did the captain oversleep? That's a first."
"As if. He's not like Cranel."
"Did he go to the Dungeon alone? He did seem to be up to something lately."
"Why keep it a secret? He'd know everyone would find it strange if he just vanished like this."
Various comments flew back and forth, but there was no genuine worry for Maxim among them.
It wasn't that they disliked him or didn't care.
Rather, it was faith. A firm, unshakable belief that nothing could possibly harm Maxim.
The title of 'the giant,' the title of 'the strongest,' was that heavy and that solid.
"Old man, do you know anything?"
"Hmm... not really..."
Zeus himself had no idea. And yet, before he knew it, his voice trailed off.
Yes, he had no clue. No clue at all.
But...
Something feels... off.
He was starting to feel an almost maddening sense of dread. What was this feeling?
This is... a more dangerous intuition than when Hera found out I'd been juggling eight women behind her back and I was chased by nine furious women, including her...
Feeling an oddly specific intuition in such a strange context, Zeus broke out in a cold sweat inwardly.
The members sensed something strange in his reaction, but their questions would never be answered.
Rumble—
Because a vibration born far away had reached all the way to Orario.
The city's powerhouses, including the Zeus and Hera Familias, felt it.
By instinct, by intuition. Without exception, they all realized it naturally.
The collision of two immense powers.
In a span of time impossible to distinguish as either an instant or an eternity, an absurd shock shook Orario to its core.
And then.
KWAANG—!!!
"Wah?!"
"W-what was that?!"
Something came flying in and smashed through one side of the building, sending everyone into a state of alarm and immediate battle readiness.
The people here were the strongest Familia in Orario. There was no fool among them who would freeze up in a sudden crisis.
"Eh? E-eh...?!"
...except for one.
"Everyone, stay alert. This entity is fast enough to evade detection. Half of you, focus on protecting the god!"
""""YES!!!""""
At the vice-captain Zard's command, the members moved in perfect unison. They formed a defensive perimeter and waited for the entity that had crashed in.
""""...""""
But as time passed, there was no reaction from the opponent.
Did it run away? Just as that thought crossed their minds, a rustling sound emerged from within the smoke.
Then the wind blew, the smoke cleared, and the object was revealed.
"Huh?"
Zeus's eyes widened as he looked at the thing that had appeared.
*
"UOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
"GRAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
The roar of a rabbit and a lion clashed.
The lion's roar grew rougher in response to the rabbit's struggle, as if the rabbit were merely a prey animal fighting a losing battle against slaughter.
Is that all? Is this the best you can do?
At the lion's mocking, dismissive attitude, the rabbit bared its teeth and rushed in, desperate to tear out the predator's throat.
The rabbit was certainly inferior to the lion. But that did not make it a chick.
Having endured countless adventures to reach completion, the rabbit did not flinch even in a duel with the lion, carving away at its own flesh as it charged forward to bring the beast down.
Its once-immature wisdom had gained substance.
Its frail body had grown powerful.
The rabbit covered for its lacking physique with honed technique and skill, laying bare the trajectory of its growth without hesitation.
Power favored the lion. Speed favored the lion as well.
And yet, even under those terrible conditions, the rabbit chose only to press forward.
As if to say it would not break, so if the lion could, it should go ahead and try to shatter it.
Delighted by that provocation, the lion roared and opened its jaws, attempting to bite the rabbit to death.
"Haaah!!"
"Guh!!"
Fist against fist.
The rabbit's slender fist was far too fragile to contend with that boulder-like fist, and yet the two continued their contest of strength, locked in a tense struggle with only a slight difference in power.
But the stalemate lasted only an instant. In the end, the difference in strength, though small, was undeniable.
And yet, the rabbit still dove in.
"Aaaah!"
"Guh...?!"
Close-quarters combat that made full use of the difference in their builds. For the rabbit, who was far smaller than the nearly three-meter-tall lion, this was the ideal distance.
The rabbit's kick struck the lion's abdomen dead on! The lion's body bent slightly as it was forced back.
But perhaps it had not been a meaningful blow. The lion was only briefly taken aback before raising its momentum even further and throwing itself back into the fray.
Their bodies crossed and clashed. Compared to the rabbit, which used its single arm and both legs without holding back, the lion fought using only its massive frame and two fists as weapons.
Strike, kick, shove, pull.
Hit and be hit, hit and be hit, advancing again and again as if the concept of retreat did not exist. The entire area had already been turned upside down by the aftermath of their collision, and all that remained was one absurdly heavy pillar.
But the two of them kept trading blows as if they were oblivious to their surroundings. All stray thoughts had vanished, leaving only the singular will to crush the opponent before them.
Every time their attacks collided, the terrain was chipped away. How many exchanges had it been? The first to collapse was neither rabbit nor lion, but the earth itself.
"?!"
"Hm."
Weight and rebound met a kick and a stubborn, unyielding fist. In that instant, the stage was transformed as the ground beneath them gave way.
The rabbit was thrown upward, the lion downward. But even as they fell, the fight did not stop.
"[Firebolt]!!!"
Fiery lightning was unleashed. Thirty-three bolts.
Just as in the duel with the witch, there was no restraint—only an indiscriminate barrage.
A curtain of fiery lightning. No, a wall of fiery lightning surged toward the giant.
"Hmph."
But with a single punch—a short shout and a fist thrown into the air—the fiery lightning was extinguished with absurd ease.
One surviving bolt of lightning had sacrificed thirty-two others to remain alive. Even alone, it had tried to burn itself out to fulfill its purpose.
"Lukewarm."
Sssshk—
It died a glorious death with a pitiful final cry, trapped in the giant's rough hand, unable even to struggle.
The rabbit's bombardment had come to nothing.
But that did not mean it had been meaningless.
Ting-a-ling—
"!"
At the very least, it had stolen the lion's attention for a single instant.
"[Firebolt]!!"
Fiery lightning was fired again.
Charged for three full seconds, this bolt of fiery lightning was on an entirely different level from the last as it charged toward the lion.
Had he failed to block it this time? The lion was blown away along with the explosion of fiery lightning.