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This time's quest basically brought rewards to Fang Li and the group.
Ignoring Darkness, who took all the attacks from start to finish but didn't defeat a single monster, so naturally her rank didn't increase at all, Kazuma, Aqua, and Megumin all had their ranks upgraded.
Kazuma mostly just hid with HideSkill and shot covert arrows to take down some undead monsters that were rushing at Aqua, but at least he defeated some monsters and ranked up to Level 15.
Megumin didn't fight any monsters at all, but at the end, Fang Li let her blow up the entire ancient castle, causing all the remaining undead inside to vanish in the explosion, turning into experience points that raised Megumin's rank even more, directly reaching Level 18.
Aqua was the one whose rank increased the most.
After all, from the moment they entered the ancient castle, Aqua kept purifying the undead, defeating an impressive number of them, which boosted her rank straight up to Level 21, making her the second highest rank after Fang Li in the team.
As for Fang Li, though she didn't kill many undead, she did slay a leader from the Demon King's army, gaining a lot of experience points. Combined with previous accumulations, she finally broke through to Level 30, becoming a top-tier adventurer.
Those were the rank gains.
As for rewards, that was a billion Eris.
The bounty from Beldia, plus temporary rewards and special bonuses from the Adventurer Guild, totaled a billion Eris.
Don't think money is unimportant just because it's external to the body.
Just like Butei, adventurers are a class motivated by money.
With money, adventurers can equip excellent gear, buy high-level items, and even purchase ingredients and cook with high experience points to boost their rank, thereby improving their strength. You can say money directly translates to power.
The importance of money is obvious.
Therefore, even Fang Li values the income from this world highly, so the rewards cannot be ignored.
Hence, this haul was really huge, enough to make anyone jealous.
But look at these treacherous teammates, what are they planning to do with this money?
Spend their whole life leisurely?
Build churches for those troublemakers?
Cause ten explosions a day?
Hire unemployed drifters to be bandits and mountain thieves?
Please give Fang Li a reason not to keep the rewards all to himself.
When it comes to important funds, if it were anyone else, they'd be trying hard to use it all to improve themselves. But these guys? They're just using it to satisfy their own desires.
And desires that make people want to bang their heads against a wall.
Given this, Fang Li decisively took the rewards for herself.
"You think the high experience point meals you usually eat come from nowhere? This money is your food budget!"
So, Fang Li completely suppressed Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness' protests.
"Don't forget, you all said before that you'd do anything."
Under these circumstances, Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness finally surrendered, with tears of blood streaming down their faces.
However, the group said their bodies and minds had suffered serious damage, so they really didn't want to work for a while and just wanted to rest.
Coincidentally, Fang Li, who successfully defeated the Demon King's army leader and completed one of the main quests, also wanted to rest a little. Plus, the Adventurer Guild reminded them that people from the Royal Capital would soon come to visit, so they needed to stay in contact. Fang Li agreed.
Of course, while Kazuma, Aqua, and Darkness all slumped into their rooms listlessly, Megumin was as active as ever.
No matter what, the "one Explosion a day" class continued.
"Explosion!"
With a spirited shout, the power of the world's strongest attack magic was fully unleashed.
The loud explosion rippled through the air, driving a hot storm that swept through and utterly destroyed everything around.
An overwhelming power rolled across every corner of the plain, ripping up the earth, blasting rocks into the air, letting the fiery blast and shockwave rampage wildly, leaving behind a huge deep hole in the ground like a volcanic crater—truly astonishing.
Yet, the one who released such an incredible magic collapsed directly onto the ground like a limp shrimp.
"Sorry... please carry me back…"
Hearing the weak, drained voice of the Crimson Magic Clan girl who seemed already used to lying face down, Fang Li, who had come along, sighed.
"You really put up with only being able to use magic once a day, and then immediately collapsing afterward."
Megumin's "one Explosion a day" had by now completely become a hallmark of Axel, appearing every day.
The townspeople were almost all accustomed to the daily massive loud noises and disturbances coming from outside the town, but they still couldn't tolerate Megumin casting her explosive magic too close to the town. Otherwise, just to repair the destruction caused, extensive earthworks would be required again.
For this reason, Megumin was forbidden to use her explosion magic too close outside the town limits, or else she would have to pay for all the restoration costs.
Helpless, Megumin had to make a long journey every day to a place farther away from town to perform her one Explosion a day.
However, if it was too far, there was some danger that Megumin would collapse from magic exhaustion and might get snatched by monsters at any time.
Therefore, Megumin's daily Explosion always required someone to accompany her and carry her back.
In the past, Darkness used to accompany Megumin.
But Darkness usually would rush ahead halfway and get hit by an explosion herself, forcing Kazuma to spend money hiring a carriage to bring these two useless girls back. He had even loudly complained about this to Fang Li before.
Today, neither Kazuma nor Darkness was in the mood to accompany Megumin.
So, the well-rested Fang Li had no choice but to risk her life to accompany her.
Carrying the completely exhausted Megumin, Fang Li suddenly thought:
"If I just throw you here now, does that mean my team will be one less leeching big magic user from now on?"
As soon as she said this, Megumin shivered all over.
Suddenly, from somewhere, the previously weak body squeezed out strength, and Megumin desperately grabbed Fang Li's neck.
"Do you think I'll let you do that?! Don't even think about leaving me behind!"
"I was joking! Did you take me seriously?!"
Just as Fang Li and Megumin were making a scene like no one else was around, a voice suddenly called out.
"Fi… finally found you! Megumin!"
Hearing this voice, Fang Li and Megumin were both stunned at the same time.
(End Of This Chapter)