Chapter 72: The Sword Princess Strikes!? Shirou and Ais' First Clash!
With the death of the Monster Rex, the monsters it summoned and that gathered from all directions of the dungeon completely vanished.
Though hard to believe, the wrath of the dungeon had been entirely subdued by the power of a mere mortal, unable to stir up any further chaos.
While the adventurers in Riveria Town were still shocked, even doubting whether what they had witnessed was real, a group of people suddenly appeared at the passageway to the 17th floor.
The adventurers quickly recognized them—it was the Loki Familia.
"Now that I think about it, I did send someone to the surface for reinforcements the moment that monster appeared…"
Riveria's leader, Bors, realized upon seeing the members of Loki Familia that these were the reinforcements he had requested.
However, now that the Monster Rex had been completely defeated, their arrival was clearly unnecessary.
Just as Bors was contemplating how to explain this fruitless trip to the Loki Familia, within their ranks, a golden-haired girl—the Sword Princess—suddenly widened her eyes.
Her instincts screamed at her, locking onto a cloaked figure on the battlefield after the fierce fight had ended.
"It's him!!"
Ais acted on instinct, charging at high speed out of the group.
Before the other members of Loki Familia could even react, Ais was already standing in front of the cloaked man.
"Ais, wait!!"
Captain Finn hadn't even finished speaking before Ais had already drawn the longsword from her waist and thrust it toward the man before her!
"Who!?"
Shirou, still immersed in the joy of obtaining materials to forge Enkidu, was just about to leave and find a place to begin forging when he was suddenly attacked.
He instinctively retreated and silently projected a longsword to block the incoming strike.
Clang!
The sound of clashing blades rang out as Shirou finally saw his attacker clearly.
He hadn't expected Ais Wallenstein, the Sword Princess, to appear in front of him. Instinctively, he adjusted his cloak to conceal his identity, worried that his true face would be revealed.
At the same time, he quickly judged that Ais must have come with the Loki Familia.
If he didn't want to be surrounded by all of them, the only option now was to quickly shake off Ais and escape from this floor!
"Come."
Seeing Ais full of fighting spirit, seemingly eager to duel him, Shirou stopped holding back and projected two longswords, engaging in combat with her.
Clang! Clang! "Hah!"
Shirou's swords weren't significantly faster than Ais's, but thanks to his mind's eye, he could skillfully evade each of Ais's strikes and instead suppress her in return.
In pure swordsmanship, Level 6 Sword Princess Ais was actually being suppressed.
Seeing this, the members of Loki Familia all wore looks of disbelief.
"Who is that guy!? Even Ais can't beat him?" "That level of strength… could he be Ottar from the Freya Familia!?" "No way! Ottar's body is way bigger. There's no way it's him!" "Could he be… the Sword Demon!?"
The Loki Familia members muttered among themselves, quickly acting to surround and support Ais.
Seeing himself being surrounded, Shirou realized he couldn't continue stalling with Ais and needed to end this quickly.
He then stopped holding back completely and suddenly opened his right hand— "Trace On!"
Facing Ais, the magical circuits in Shirou's body shone at their peak.
In the next moment, sword after sword emerged from behind him, rapidly encircling Ais and completely trapping her in a dome of blades.
"Go!"
Shirou launched all the swords, but deliberately set their trajectory in a scatter pattern, avoiding a lethal strike.
This barrage completely blocked all of Ais's movement options, forcing her to halt and defend herself.
Seizing the opportunity, Shirou turned and dashed toward Rivira Town, plunging into the 19th floor of the dungeon and escaping the area.
Meanwhile, the Loki Familia, startled by the sudden mass projection of swords, rushed to Ais's side to protect her. But they quickly noticed that the blades had not been aimed to kill—most fell harmlessly to the ground.
It was precisely because of this that they couldn't imagine what terrifying outcome would have occurred if every single blade had been aimed directly at Ais.
Even Finn, the captain of Loki Familia, couldn't confidently say he could block all those weapons without being skewered.
For a single person to possess such terrifying magic—it was no wonder the Sword Demon could so easily kill the Monster Rex.
Whether in terms of firepower coverage or release speed, it was beyond anything ordinary adventurers could imagine.
"Ais, are you okay?"
Finn and the others gathered beside her.
"…"
Ais silently nodded, but her face was clearly filled with frustration.
After all, in the brief exchange just now, she had been completely overpowered—both in swordsmanship and in the mysterious magic the opponent used, everything far surpassed her expectations.
"Don't be upset, Ais." Vice-captain Riveria saw Ais's expression and gently consoled her. "That guy is practically a monster born from the dungeon itself. It's hard to imagine what kind of existence he really is. We're just regular adventurers—there's no need to measure ourselves against that."
"Exactly," Finn nodded. "No matter how strong the Sword Demon is, he's still just one person. Next time we see him, we'll fight as a whole familia. No matter how powerful he is, he won't be able to stand against all of us!"
Monster.
The adventurers of the Loki Familia all nodded in agreement—they didn't believe the Sword Demon could take on their entire familia alone.
Only Lefiya wore a complicated expression.
Because she had seen Shirou shoot an arrow straight through a mutated plant monster before. If he really was the Sword Demon, she feared he might truly have the power to face the entire Loki Familia alone.
Of course, since this idea was so extreme, and because she needed to keep Shirou's secret, she naturally wouldn't tell anyone.
Amidst the chaos caused by the Sword Demon, the Loki Familia quickly began tidying up the scene and investigating why the originally safe 18th floor suddenly gave rise to a Variant Monster Rex-level threat.
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After escaping the 18th floor, Shirou plunged deeper into the dungeon.
With the materials from the mutated Monster Rex in hand, he now had everything needed to forge the Chains of Heaven.
He had also collected the materials to forge Hrunting for Bell—a massive, still-beating heart with undead properties, dropped after killing the 17th floor's Lone King.
Such traits were perfectly suited to the Hrunting's concept—ideal forging material.
Shirou had no plans to return to the surface, and even less intention to visit the Hephaestus Familia to forge the weapons.
He didn't want anyone to know about his forgings, especially not the Apollo Familia—the Chains of Heaven and Hrunting were trump cards necessary to defeat them.
"There's no time to waste. Let's begin."
Using existing dungeon materials, Shirou casually crafted a forge. The forging tools he could project at will.
As for the most important part—fire—he now had the special skill Karma's Flame, so that was no longer a concern.
"Hoo…"
He took a deep breath.
First, he exterminated every monster within several kilometers to ensure absolute safety. Only after confirming the area was clear did he begin forging.
For security reasons, he first forged the Hrunting for Bell.
Having prior experience from forging the magic sword Ame-no-Habakiri for Yamato Mikoto, this time the process went much smoother.
Before long, the magic sword Hrunting was complete.
Upon appraising it, he found it bore three effects:
[Berserker]: The wielder turns into a battle beast, immune to mental interference such as fear, confusion, illusion, and no longer feels pain. They fight like a wild animal until the bitter end. [Touch of Blood]: Continuously absorbs blood—be it the user's or the enemy's. The more blood collected, the stronger the melee attacks become. [Baptism of Karma's Flame]: Increases resistance to curses for both user and weapon. Delivers special attacks against "non-human" entities based on karmic causality.
With Hrunting forged and sheathed, Shirou took another deep breath.
He didn't plan to waste time.
After a short rest to restore mental energy spent using the Karma Flame, he began the main event—forging the Chains of Heaven.
Although not a divine artifact, its nature was so unique that even Shirou couldn't be sure he could truly forge it.
Moreover, considering how the dungeon had gone berserk sensing divine power earlier, he worried that forging this divine-restraining weapon might provoke the same reaction.
But to his surprise, the forging process went unbelievably smoothly.
Not only did the dungeon offer no resistance, it was so eerily quiet that it was as if the dungeon itself was protecting and assisting his forging.
And when the Chains of Heaven were nearly complete, Shirou sensed an invisible force flowing from the walls into the weapon.
The part he could never get quite right finally came together, as though that power had completed the final piece of the puzzle.
Through the purifying Karma Flame and the dungeon's silent aid, Shirou finally completed a weapon that should not belong to mortals— The Chains of Heaven, a weapon meant to bind the power of gods!
"Are you helping me to take revenge against the gods?"
Shirou glanced at the empty dungeon around him and couldn't help but ask.
But the dungeon gave no response—or perhaps it simply couldn't.
In the end, all returned to silence—like a still lake, without a single ripple.
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Meanwhile, Orario had become lively for the first time in a while.
Early in the morning, people poured into the streets, eagerly awaiting an exciting event: The War Game between the Apollo Familia and the Hestia Familia.
Though it was just a Lv.1 vs. Lv.3 match, everyone already expected the result. But for spectators, the process mattered more than the outcome. As long as it was exciting, most people would happily swarm to it like locusts.
Even the gods were drawn to the event.
The gods of the Tower of Babel made numerous posters on parchment to advertise the war game.
The Ganesha Familia not only provided their coliseum free of charge but had the god Ganesha himself serve as the announcer, leaping atop the central platform.
"—I am Ganesha! Today, I'll be narrating the War Game!"
"Ohhh!!" "Ganesha!" "Ganesha!"
Under the shouting of the elephant-headed god, the crowd's excitement erupted. Several thrill-seeking deities joined the event in person.
"This is…" "Getting a little too lively."
On the 30th floor of Babel, a quiet observatory made for gods preferring silence, a few deities gathered.
The two main gods of the war game—Hestia and Apollo—were also present.
Compared to the other gods, Hestia looked obviously tense and deeply uneasy about the upcoming battle.
Apollo, on the other hand, appeared confident and poised, ready at any moment to deliver a victory speech.
"…It's about time."
The god Hermes looked toward the coliseum with a smile.
Among all the gods present, only he showed real anticipation—he clearly did not believe this battle would be a one-sided massacre.
But Hermes was the only one who thought so.
The other gods didn't expect anything surprising.
Even Loki and Freya had no expectations. None believed that a Level 1 Bell could defeat a Level 3 adventurer.
Regardless of what the gods believed, the War Game was now about to officially begin.