In the Guild's underground altar, Genichi finally met Ouranos.
Loki and Astraea were there as well.
That surprised him a little.
He had assumed this meeting would be with Ouranos alone. He had not expected Loki and Astraea to be present too.
It seemed Orario's crisis had already reached the point where even these gods had no choice but to unite and discuss a joint response.
Genichi's gaze swept across the three deities before finally settling on Ouranos.
He was in a draconic form, his enormous body coiled in the center of the altar, radiating an aura of authority and unfathomable depth.
He was the manager of the Dungeon, Orario's true guardian god, and the single most crucial figure in this crisis.
Beside him, Loki was squinting at Genichi, her long narrow eyes flickering with complicated light.
Her usual smile still hung at the corners of her mouth, but at the moment it carried a darker, sharper edge.
Astraea stood a little farther back, gratitude and concern both visible in the way she looked at him.
"You really have turned Orario into a complete mess, brat."
Loki spoke first, and there was something distinctly sinister in her voice.
She stared at Genichi as if trying to see straight through him.
He met her gaze and smiled faintly.
"That's a strange way to put it. I got rid of a major evil for Orario. At least several hundred Evilus adventurers and three Evilus gods were dealt with by me. You ought to be thanking me."
Hearing that, Loki nearly laughed from sheer irritation.
Thank him?
If not for this brat, how would Orario have ended up in this kind of chaos?
The Dungeon was enraged. A monster surge could erupt at any time. Dionysus's Six Spirit Rings were still hanging over the city like a blade. The entire place was shrouded in fear.
And the spark that had lit all of it was the boy standing right in front of her.
"Thank you?"
Loki let out a cold laugh. "If you hadn't forced those three gods to commit suicide and return to Heaven, how would the Dungeon have become enraged? If you hadn't stirred the grass and startled the snake, how would Dionysus have moved ahead of schedule? And you still have the nerve to ask me to thank you?"
Genichi shrugged, his tone as calm as ever.
"Those three gods belonged to Evilus. The man-made labyrinth was imprisoning countless innocent people. Destroying it was the right thing to do. And as for Dionysus, his plan was already in motion. Even if I hadn't acted, he would have found a chance to detonate the Six Spirit Rings. All I did was make everything happen sooner."
"Sooner?"
Loki's voice rose. "Do you have any idea that if we'd had enough time to prepare, we could have avoided the worst-case scenario? But now? Now everything's gone completely off the rails!"
Genichi looked at her, a chill passing through his eyes.
"So what's your point? Are you blaming me? Blaming me for wiping out Evilus? Blaming me for killing those scum? Or blaming me for exposing Orario's crisis ahead of time?"
For a moment, Loki had no answer.
She knew what he was saying was true.
Evilus deserved to die. The man-made labyrinth deserved to be destroyed. Dionysus's plot deserved to be exposed.
From a moral standpoint, every single thing Genichi had done was right.
But from a practical one, his actions really had shoved Orario into an unprecedented crisis.
"That's enough, Loki. Let's talk about what actually matters."
Astraea spoke from the side, cutting off Loki before she could vent any further.
She looked at Genichi with a trace of apology.
She knew Loki's personality. The goddess of trickery had a sharp tongue, but deep down she understood Genichi had not truly done anything wrong.
She just could not accept the situation yet.
Loki gave a huff and said nothing more.
Ouranos looked at Genichi and finally spoke.
"Astraea tells me your true level is Level 6?"
"Yes."
Genichi did not bother hiding it.
In front of Ouranos, there was no point.
Ouranos was silent for a moment, and a trace of approval flashed through his eyes.
"In the span of two months, you went from an ordinary person to an adventurer who reached Level 6. That speed of growth is unprecedented in Orario's history."
Genichi did not respond. He simply looked back at him in silence.
But Loki could not hold herself back.
"Dionysus must've cheated for you!"
There was unwillingness and frustration in her voice.
Every time she thought about how Genichi had once come to the Loki Familia and been turned away by her, she felt like her insides were twisting with regret.
At the time, he had just arrived in Orario. An ordinary person with no Familia willing to take him in.
He had come to the Loki Familia wanting to join, and she had rejected him.
The reason had been simple.
He had looked too ordinary. There had been nothing especially remarkable about him.
Loki saw countless adventurers every day who wanted to join her Familia, and she turned most of them down.
Genichi had only been one among many. He had not even left much of an impression.
But now?
This boy she had rejected had reached Level 6 in two months, personally destroyed the man-made labyrinth, killed countless Evilus members, forced three gods to return to Heaven through suicide, exposed Dionysus's conspiracy, and become one of the central figures in Orario's current crisis.
If she had accepted him back then...
Loki did not dare let herself think any further.
A genius like that. Potential like that. Growth like that. If he had become one of her children, how much glory would he have brought the Loki Familia?
"Heh. Heh."
Genichi did not even bother arguing with her. He merely gave two light laughs.
But those two little chuckles nearly made Loki lose her composure.
There was no obvious malice in them. It was just laughter.
And yet to Loki, they sounded full of mockery and teasing.
As if he were saying: You turned me away back then. Regretting it now?
Loki took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
She was a goddess. The patron deity of the Loki Familia. She could not afford to lose her composure in front of others.
But that regret coiled around her heart like a poisonous snake, refusing to let go.
"All right, stop derailing this."
Astraea spoke again, breaking the awkward atmosphere. "What matters most right now is how we deal with the crisis that's coming."
Ouranos nodded and turned his gaze back to Genichi.
"You already understand Orario's current situation, correct?"
Genichi nodded. "The Dungeon is enraged. It's going to produce special enhanced monsters, and it may even trigger a monster surge. Dionysus has a Level 7 creature at his side, Filvis Challia, and he's also allied with the corrupted spirit in the Dungeon. He plans to use the corrupted spirit's clones to activate the Six Spirit Rings and blow up Orario."
"Correct."
Ouranos's voice grew even heavier. "And the worst part is that these two disasters may happen at the same time. If the monster surge erupts and Dionysus chooses that moment to detonate the Six Spirit Rings, Orario will face total destruction."
Genichi was silent for a moment, then asked, "So why did you call me here? What do you want me to do?"
Ouranos looked at him, something meaningful flickering in his gaze.
"Astraea tells me you possess teleportation magic. I need that magic. I need you to use it to enter the Dungeon, locate the corrupted spirit's clones, and then transport the Loki Familia and Freya Familia there so they can subjugate the corrupted spirit."
(End of Chapter)
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