With a shift of his will, Levi tossed the Divine Blood provided by Hestia back into his Item Box.
He then smoothly grabbed a low-tier Mind (Mana) Recovery Potion and downed it.
He then lightly tapped the dumbfounded Cyclops of the Forge standing beside him. "Snap out of it. Fall back. Also, if any regular monsters or adventurers approach, make sure to intercept them for me."
Tsubaki was a prominent Level 5 adventurer in Orario, after all. Though initially shocked by the Pitch-Black Goliath's appearance, she quickly recovered.
While retreating, she shouted loudly, "Little Levi, do you need help?"
"Only if I can't beat that thing."
Levi's answer was cautious.
As he spoke, he was already sprinting toward the Pitch-Black Goliath. Once he entered magic attack range, he successively unleashed Diona's Special Mix, Adeptal Art: Preserver of Fortune, and Adeptal Art: Herald of Frost.
The Pitch-Black Goliath wasn't a living target that would just sit there and take a beating. Relying on the self-regeneration ability granted to God's Assassins, it let the three spells smash directly into its body. Meanwhile, it opened its mouth and unleashed a 'Howl' toward Levi's location.
—Boom!
Levi's forward momentum abruptly stalled. He didn't know how many layers of his shield had just been stripped away.
However, when he decided to challenge the Pitch-Black Goliath, he had already mentally prepared himself for the fact that its stats would be higher than his. At this moment, he exerted strength in his legs again, but instead of charging in a straight line, he instantly utilized the Tachen Shedou footwork. His movement rhythm became unpredictable.
A second later, the second Howl arrived as expected.
But due to the Pitch-Black Goliath's misjudgment, it grazed Levi's shield and missed.
At the same moment, the five Cat Claws Levi had conjured arced through the air, successfully hitting the Pitch-Black Goliath's torso, which was too massive to dodge easily.
Unfortunately, Cat Claws was a skill more biased towards stacking shields; its inherent attack effect, while present, wasn't particularly powerful.
After being hit, the Pitch-Black Goliath didn't even slow down. Its skin merely cracked slightly before being successfully repaired by its self-regeneration.
Seeing this scene, Levi, still in mid-sprint, clicked his tongue.
The Tachen Shedou footwork beneath his feet became even more elusive.
Although the Pitch-Black Goliath was a monster bred by the Dungeon, it possessed considerable intelligence.
Realizing that its long-range Howls were becoming difficult to hit Levi with, it raised its fists—truly the size of sandbags—and engaged in close-quarters combat.
By now, Levi had successfully reached close range. Seeing the massive arm sweeping towards him, he almost instinctively chose to jump straight up.
Then, he saw the Pitch-Black Goliath grin hideously.
In the next instant...
—Boom!
Levi, who had struggled to get close, was sent flying back to the starting point by a direct Howl.
"[DanMachi Profanity]!"
Levi flung five Cat Claws at the ground and charged forward again.
This time, he acted even more cautiously.
Unless absolutely necessary, he would never choose to stay airborne.
Even when the Pitch-Black Goliath swept its arm across the ground, he merely swapped the Primordial Jade Cutter he was holding for Wolf's Gravestone. Executing the Favonius Bladework, he delivered a heavy slash to neutralize the incoming attack.
—As expected!
Sensing that the Pitch-Black Goliath's strength wasn't as terrifying as he had imagined, Levi relaxed slightly.
The Pitch-Black Goliath had high base Strength due to its massive size.
However, it couldn't withstand the effects of the C3 (Constellation 3) Diona and C4 Qiqi constellations, which could inflict medium and large Strength debuffs on enemies, respectively.
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Danmachi : I'm Surrounded by Goddesses (102 Chapters, Ongoing)
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Looking at himself, his base Strength stat was 2099. With [Mana Burst] activated, it became 3099, not counting the Strength bonus provided by Wolf's Gravestone.
Calculating based on the rule that 1 point of high-level Falna stats could be considered equal to 2 points of low-level Falna stats...
Saying he could look down on all Level 5s might be an exaggeration, but fighting a Pitch-Black Goliath suffering from a double Strength debuff? He could definitely gain the upper hand.
So...
This battle... I can win!
Having reached this conclusion, Levi's movements, originally biased toward defense and evasion, suddenly shifted drastically.
Wielding the greatsword, his combat rhythm began to open up, becoming bold and aggressive.
—Mana Burst · Wind!
2000 stat points were directly added to Strength.
This instantly elevated the power of the weapon in Levi's hands to a whole new level.
Although the Pitch-Black Goliath didn't know what the tiny human in front of it was doing, it instinctively sensed an anomaly.
While emitting a 'Howl' from its mouth, raging flames suddenly ignited all over its body.
In the anime of the spin-off Sword Oratoria, the protagonist Ais, in order to gain the Feat for leveling up, chose to challenge the Dungeon's Isolated King of the 37th Floor, Udaeus, solo.
Unlike in group battles, Udaeus revealed a second form unknown to the Loki Familia.
Just like the Pitch-Black Goliath at this moment!
Levi swung his greatsword, blocking the flame-imbued strike while chanting aloud:
"Hephaestus, I pray to you here. Please grant me the Goddess's protection."
Because he was in the heat of battle, he didn't deliberately suppress his volume.
Combined with the appearance of Hephaestus's transparent phantom—identical in nature to Hestia's protection—it left the Pitch-Black Goliath aside, but Tsubaki, who was on the sidelines picking off spawned monsters one by one, wore a look of astonishment, even shock, at this sudden development.
—Hey, hey, hey, Little Levi, this is a bit too much.
—Calling upon Goddess Hestia's protection is one thing; she is your Patron Deity and lover, after all.
—But how can you even pull in a projection of my Goddess?!
Although her heart was filled with doubts, Tsubaki knew this was a critical moment in Levi's challenge against the Pitch-Black Goliath.
She could only temporarily suppress her urge to retort, planning to ask him for the reason afterward.
However, not everyone watching this battle could contain their emotions.
"Not just Hestia, but even Hephaestus has granted her protection?"
Inside Babel, the Goddess of Beauty, Freya, who was spying on Levi's actions in the Dungeon through her Divine Mirror, seemed to realize something.
"Is it because of... a Goddess's love?"
In the Lower World, Freya was best known for holding the authority of 'Beauty,' but in Heaven (Tenkai), this Goddess actually also held the role of a Goddess of 'Love.'
Precisely because of this, with just a single glance, she saw through the essence of Levi's awakened magic.
And then...
Freya's cheeks couldn't help but flush red.
Her crossed legs squirmed restlessly.
"Oh my, oh my~"
"Does this mean... you've actually noticed my affection as well?"
"Levi~"
Ottar stood by the Goddess's side. having long since grown accustomed to his adoptive mother's bouts of eccentricity, his expression didn't change in the slightest.
However, when he turned his head to look at the scene within the Divine Mirror, his expression grew noticeably more serious.
—A Goliath that uses flame enchantments...
—If I have time, I should go challenge it.