The anomalous light slammed into Artemis, jolting the goddess who had just rejoiced over the monsters' defeat.
Her body lurched toward Andaris, and then a pillar of light shot skyward from her—Andaris's assault had triggered a god's safeguard: a column of Divine Power meant to recall Artemis to the heavens.
Yet Andaris's radiance flared even brighter; the recall beam flickered twice and vanished.
All Black Monsters are virtually immune to Divine Power.
This is the Dungeon's vengeance.
Unless special weapons are used, even a god who breaks her Seal cannot slay a single Black Monster with Divine Power."097"
Artemis thrashed inside the light, but the beam completely sealed her movements.
A god whose Divine Power is sealed is only slightly stronger than ordinary people.
Artemis could probably handle one-versus-two, maybe one-versus-three at most.
At that moment Artemis realized what Andaris intended.
Drain her Divine Power to fuel its next evolution and forge an Arrow of Artemis capable of destroying the surface world.
Once the spell on the arrow completed, the world would face catastrophe; with Adventurers' current strength they could never beat an Andaris that had devoured a god—let alone the rumored Black Dragon.
After all her preparations, was Andaris still going to succeed?!
As Artemis reflexively summoned her Divine Power to call the Arrow of Orion down from the heavens, a screech like metal grinding on metal rang through the ruins.
The future of being trapped inside the diamond crystal never arrived.
Artemis tumbled out of the traction beam, but before she hit the ground a haze of golden mist cushioned her fall.
Artemis stared in bewilderment.
What just happened?
When she saw, shock swept across her face.
Rosen had thrust his hand straight into Andaris's traction beam—a force that could suppress any god—yet it had no effect on him.
Rosen rather admired Andaris's directness.
Capture Artemis and Andaris would evolve anew.
It acted this way because its intelligence was far from low.
Anyone who saw a mountain of Familia wiped out in an instant would crave the power to exact revenge.
Andaris was no exception.
But more than revenge, what it wanted was survival.
"Seems a monster tailor-made to hunt gods is useless against me."
At first Rosen had wondered whether, like Artemis, his power might be suppressed by Andaris's Physique.
He quickly proved himself wrong.
The only Divine Power Andaris could suppress belonged to the native gods of the Dungeon.
Against an outsider like Rosen, Andaris had no counter.
"Time to send you off."
Rosen smiled softly.
She then lifted her elbow slightly and, like a conductor, gave a gentle wave of her hand.
In the next instant, the hollow interior of the ruin was flooded with a blinding, golden radiance.
The moment Andaris was enveloped by the light, its body let out a shrill, miserable roar.
A closer look would reveal the acrid stench of something burning rising from Andaris's body.
No matter how it struggled, it was useless.
After all, its strength was worlds apart from Rosen's current level.
The outcome, naturally, was beyond doubt.
Andaris had always been "weak"; the moment Rosen acted, it was instantly obliterated, leaving no room for resistance whatsoever.
The colossal Black Monster thus brazenly dissolved into wisps of green smoke before the girls' eyes.
"That thing was sly—slipped right past us to grab Young Miss Artemis."
Tokisaki Kurumi remarked with a hint of emotion.
Fortunately, Rosen was right here.
Otherwise, once Andaris captured Artemis, they would have had no good countermeasure.
Had Andaris succeeded, their only option would have been the Arrow of Orion from the original story—killing it together with Artemis.
Of course, even with the Divine Artifact in hand, not just anyone can casually wield the Arrow of Orion.
They could head back to Orari to search for a suitable candidate, but the round trip might waste an entire month. "I remember the Anime: Young Miss Artemis searched the whole of Orari and found only one Adventurer—Bell—qualified to use the God-Slaying Arrow."
Fubuki sighed in admiration.
Still, the incident sounded a warning for them.
Foreknowledge of the plot mustn't make them overconfident.
Unless every one of them possessed strength on Rosen's level—or at the very least, something close to Fubuki's Boundary Tornado.
Meanwhile, the girls of the Artemis Familia hurried over and ringed their goddess, faces filled with disbelief and shock at Rosen's casual display of power.
After all, a monster that ordinary Adventurers couldn't even scratch had been erased in a single instant by the man before them.