Chapter 345

Chapter 345: Chapter 345

Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

One morning, Kiriya woke in Hestia’s arms, washed up, and joined the three girls at the dining table for breakfast.

"Everything ready?" Hestia asked.

Today was the day Kiriya and the others would once again set out on an expedition into the depths of the Dungeon, so naturally she was paying close attention to every last detail.

"All set," Jeanne replied with a smile.

She had not spent the past two weeks doing nothing but relaxing.

In between enjoying her time off, she had handled most of the supply purchases, and everything they might need for the expedition had already been prepared.

"So we’re finally going to these Deep Floors you keep talking about." Esdeath’s eyes gleamed with anticipation.

"I’m looking forward to it."

The monsters down there ought to be much more satisfying to fight.

"I know you are, Esdeath, but once you’re down there, you have to follow instructions," Hestia reminded her, still not entirely reassured.

"Don’t charge off on your own just because you see something interesting."

"Heh. Relax. I understand."

Esdeath nodded easily enough, and the conversation continued in a cheerful, relaxed atmosphere.

Unfortunately, that peaceful breakfast was soon interrupted by a rapid series of knocks.

Knock, knock, knock—!

Whoever was outside was clearly in a hurry, though the force behind the knocking was not particularly strong. Most likely a woman.

Everyone frowned.

Kiriya instinctively extended his perception, and the familiar presence on the other side of the door immediately made him pause.

’Why is she here?’

He stood, walked over, and opened the door.

A breathtakingly beautiful face appeared before him.

The visitor wore simple clothing and had pulled a hood over her head, yet even dressed so plainly, the naturally bewitching air surrounding her was impossible to hide.

Fortunately, Kiriya’s mental strength had become absurdly powerful by now; otherwise, even he might have been drawn in.

Triggering Mirror Calm over something like this and wasting its once-per-day effect would have been painful.

The goddess had not come alone. Beside her stood H?rn, a silver-gray-haired girl dressed in a long black gown.

"Kiriya, it’s been a while!"

"Freya? Why are you here?"

Pfft—!

Before Freya could answer, Hestia spat out the milk she had just been drinking.

Luckily, Esdeath was sitting across from her.

The droplets froze in midair before they could reach her, turning into tiny beads of ice that pattered harmlessly onto the table and floor instead of creating an extremely unfortunate scene.

"Hestia?"

Esdeath smiled pleasantly, though the look in her eyes was anything but pleasant.

"Cough, cough... Sorry, Esdeath."

Hestia coughed twice, hurriedly apologized, then stomped over to the entrance and pointed two fingers at the Goddess of Beauty like a blade.

"Freya! What are you doing here?"

Faced with Hestia glaring at her as though they might start fighting at any moment, Freya merely maintained her graceful smile.

"What’s wrong? An old friend comes to visit, and you won’t even invite me inside?"

"Hmph. My little place is far too humble to accommodate someone as important as you."

Hestia immediately wrapped both arms around Kiriya’s arm, making her claim perfectly obvious.

"Lady Hestia, people are starting to gather outside," H?rn quietly reminded her. "If they notice Lady Freya standing here, this could become troublesome."

Hestia’s eyebrow twitched.

She glanced around and, sure enough, noticed several passersby already pointing toward them.

With no better option, she quickly pulled Freya inside, while H?rn followed close behind.

Bang!

The door shut, cutting them off from the curious eyes outside.

"I remember telling you this already, Freya. Stop clinging to Kiriya!"

Hestia sat with one leg crossed over the other and folded her arms, looking thoroughly confrontational.

Esdeath continued eating while watching the drama with obvious interest, whereas Jeanne at least remembered her manners and poured hot tea for the two guests.

"Yes, you did. Which is why I’m not here to cling to him this time."

Freya said all of that while staring at Kiriya as though her eyes had been glued to him, making the statement spectacularly unconvincing.

"You—"

Hestia’s temper immediately started rising again, but H?rn hurriedly intervened.

"Lady Hestia, we truly did come because of something urgent."

She paused before adding more seriously, "More precisely, we came to ask for help."

"Help?"

Everyone froze.

That word would have sounded perfectly normal coming from almost any other Familia, but from the Freya Familia it felt strange enough to be unsettling.

They had several first-class adventurers, not to mention Ottar, a Level 7, at their core.

Their members might constantly fight among themselves, but they were not stupid enough to refuse cooperation when faced with a genuine crisis.

What could possibly have driven a force like that to request outside assistance?

Kiriya’s expression sharpened immediately.

"What happened in the Dungeon?"

"The 60th Floor."

H?rn’s voice became solemn.

"While the captain and the others were attempting to explore it, they discovered an enormous number of mutated monsters. More importantly, the entire floor has been transformed into a completely unfamiliar environment. Calling it another world would not be much of an exaggeration. It resembles a demon realm."

"On that floor, they discovered six enormous fleshy pillars extending all the way to the ceiling. Each one has what appears to be a Spirit attached to it, and every one of those entities gives off an aura of at least Level 7. They appear to be preparing some kind of extremely large-scale magical ritual."

"The captain realized something was wrong and attempted to stop them, but even the initial clash caused significant casualties. They had no choice but to withdraw immediately to the safe floor on the 50th Floor."

H?rn’s expression tightened.

"At least six beings comparable to Level 7 Spirits, each possessing extremely powerful long-range magical bombardment. A group of enemies like that is already beyond what the Freya Familia can eliminate alone. We would need to gather the strongest forces in all of Orario to have a realistic chance of defeating them, which is why messengers were sent back."

She looked directly at Kiriya.

"That is why we came to you."

"Lord Kiriya, we need your strength."

Hestia accepted the report and read through it, her brows drawing tighter with every line.

"Six pillars reaching the ceiling, large numbers of creatures resembling Spirits, some mysterious large-scale ritual... no matter how I look at it, this reeks of a conspiracy."

"The Sixfold Spirit Ring."

Kiriya’s answer came without hesitation.

"It sacrifices six Spirits to summon a pillar of light from Heaven. The resulting attack is powerful enough to erase all of Orario."

Silence fell over the room.

Everyone’s expression changed at once.

Jeanne alone remained relatively calm.

Kiriya had already discussed the possibility with her before, so she was not hearing it for the first time.

"They’re preparing something that terrifying?"

Hestia stared at him in disbelief, while even Freya’s usual composure faltered.

Both goddesses had heard of the Sixfold Spirit Ring, but as far as they knew it was merely an ancient ritual used to "summon a pillar."

Neither had imagined that it could be turned into a weapon capable of annihilating an entire city.

That ignorance was hardly their fault.

The last time this altered version of the ritual had appeared was a thousand years ago, before the gods had even descended to the Lower World.

In order to destroy Nidhogg, the Great Spirits of that era had been forced to modify the original technique into a devastating weapon.

Under normal circumstances, that knowledge should have vanished into history.

Unfortunately, Dionysus had been utterly determined to create the largest disaster possible.

After years of persistent research and digging through ancient records, he had actually uncovered traces of the technique.

"So, Kiriya."

Freya recovered first and gave him a beautiful smile.

"What are you going to do?"

"Obviously, we go straight at them!"

Before Kiriya could answer, Esdeath had already left the table and walked over, her entire demeanor overflowing with excitement.

"Exactly."

Kiriya smiled faintly.

"They’re only a handful of Corrupted Spirits."

His voice remained calm, but the confidence behind those words was absolute enough to make several pairs of eyes brighten.

"We should still gather reinforcements," Hestia insisted. "It’s the Dungeon. There’s no such thing as being too prepared down there."

"Of course we’ll bring help."

Kiriya nodded.

"There’s no reason for us to work ourselves to death while everyone else watches from the sidelines. You girls finish getting ready. I’ll head over to the Loki Familia and be back soon."

He rose from the table, activated the Flying Thunder God Technique, and disappeared from the room.