77 Chapter 74: Antares

Arriving near the ruins, the fog was like the 10th floor of the dungeon. Visibility was basically zero.

"This place looks and feels ominous as hell." Tione looked around and it felt like they were going to be ambushed at any time.

"We need to go and eliminate the threat immediately." Kaguya said with a grave tone.

"This forest will get eaten up at this rate." Ryuu agreed.

"Then let's go! This is a job for a heroine like me!" Alise was ready.

"Let's do this like this, Hermes will be ready to take off to retreat with Hestia. Artemis will be with us." Lars started appointing roles.

"Belnas and Elnea will take care of the monsters that would spill. I'm sure they will come out." Lars looked at Tiona and Tione.

The twins explained the formation as they were still trying to learn Koine.

Airmid then gave them a couple of potions and they were set.

"Let's go and kick this thing's ass." Lars took out a prototype of his ultimate weapon that only he can maximize the strength of.

An enchanted sword that splits into several other ones; The Zenith. As it's above and beyond anything Orario will ever see.

Though he still needed to reforge it, because it still wasn't at the apex.

They went towards the ruins. Hestia waved at them anxiously while Hermes tipped his hat.

"They are strong, do not worry." Elnea assured Hestia and the amazoness prepared to kill anything that moved.

__Ruins__

"Is this the place?" Airmid could feel that something sinister was inside.

"The walls are being corrupted by some kind of fleshy mass." Lyra investigated.

"I should burn it off first. Incinerate." Lars made them step back and he raised his palm forwards the entrance.

A large stream of fire baked everything inside and he followed it up with frigid winds.

The hallway got cleaned up, but the flesh started to appear again.

"No good huh, it seems we need to charge head on." Kaguya frowned.

"Yeah, we can only move forwards." Alise brandished her rapier.

Monsters started to spawn in droves and the Astraea familia spearheaded the attack to preserve Lars' strength as much as possible.

He was the win condition of the quest as he held the arrow of Orion that Artemis made with her last vestiges of power.

The 1st class adventurers made quick work of everything. But what's weird is the subsequent enemies that arrived seemed to change.

Their shells got harder, thicker, larger. "They're adapting?" Lars raised a brow.

"We need to open up a path before we get too exhausted here then." Tiona brandished her swords and Tione raised her shortswords.

A red aura coated her blades and she moved like a blur, cutting everything in a straight line as she ran.

Tiona then followed suit and she swung her massive swords on the heavyset doors in front of them.

But the door was protected by a blue energy that pushed her backwards.

"That's my arcanum! Cover me, I will open the door!" Artemis shouted and they encircled her.

Artemis' hand touched the barrier and it resonated with her arcanum. After a few minutes, it opened up and they quickly entered.

The door slammed itself shut behind them as the corruption covered it completely.

As if it was a trap that got the intended target. "Here goes nothing." Lars furrowed his brows.

"Is that!?" Ryuu pointed at a scorpion monster that was two stories tall.

"Artemis..." Lars could see that she was crystalized on the chest area of their target.

The monster's chest closed like a hatch and Lars clicked his tongue.

"Orya!" Tiona charged in head first and she whacked it with her crusher.

A shockwave exploded all around the area they were in, but its shell was rock solid. Like it was made of solid orichalum.

"It's due to my arcanum... It's being strengthened by it." Artemis winced.

"Don't worry, we'll take it down." Lars patted her on the back.

"Alise! Let's go!" Lars shouted and the redhead nodded.

"Agaris Alvesynth!" Alise charged towards the monster and their weapons crashed on its hard shell.

Her fiery sword creating flames and sparks as she held back the monster.

"Dance! Zenith!" Lars poured his mana inside of his sword and it separated into three separate blades.

Using his psychokinesis to the maximum, his swords attacked Antares with his mind.

"Lightning drop kick!" Tione did a kamen rider drop kick at its chest and a thunderclap resounded as her attack connected.

"Iai no tachi! Gokou!" Kaguya used her magic as five blades of light formed around her.

The blades moved at breakneck speeds and they hit Antares' joints that were cut by her technique.

Lars' swords then lodged themselves into its other joints to prevent it from moving.

"It's regenerating!" Airmid who was blocking for the team saw it regenerate quickly.

"Tch what an ass." Lars activated the spear on his hand and he targeted its chest.

But an arrow made of energy aimed at his hand escaped from its chest.

He had to block the divine energy with the spear and he clicked his tongue.

Rampaging around, the monster shot purple lasers around like it was going out of style, forcing them to dodge.

"Luminous wind!" Ryuu finished chanting and stardust hit the monster, making its legs buckle.

"Alveria!" Alise stabbed her sword in the gap of its armor. Releasing tons of fire at it as her magic combined with Ryuu's.

Lars didn't waste any time and he went towards its rear. He grabbed its tail and he pulled like he meant it.

"Tiona! Tione!" Lars shouted and they knew what to do.

Grabbing its pincers, the twins anchored themselves to the ground as they also pulled.

"Aaaaah!" Lars' muscles bulged as his fingers dug into its shell. Ripping off its tail, he smacked it with it, making it fall down.

"Lars! Breach the shell!" Tiona and Tione pulled to the sides, exposing its heavily defended chest.

"How do you try your own attack!" Lars aimed the tip of is tail at its chest and he violently stabbed it there like a nail.

His chest started to burn a bright blue and fire spilled from his mouth.

"Take cover!" Airmid planted her shield and everybody went behind her immediately.

The air stilled at the amount of mana congregated and it was like a bomb made of mana exploded.

Antares tried to counter Lars' flare breath with its laser, but it was overpowered immediately.

It then flew away like a pebble, the whole temple shaking like a leaf in a storm.

Lars casted gale as the dust cloud was swept away. But what he saw made his eyes turn into slits immediately.

"Lante... Rethusa..." He saw their corpses and Artemis looked at them sadly.

He quickly gathered their corpses first. So he could bury them later.

"Lars! It's not done yet!" Ryuu shouted at him as Antares walked up to him, still regenerating.

But he wasn't listening. It tried to snip at him with its pincers, but his arm transformed as scales appeared on them.

Stopping its pincers, they could see a red glow on his back as the symbol of a lion shone.

Ira; Wrath. His most dangerous sin. The more rage he feels, the stronger he becomes. Capable of giving him infinite strength. In exchange for his sanity.

Glowing brighter and brighter, the lion on his back seemed to roar as he let his fury go.

"RAHHHH!" He grabbed its arms and ripped it off of its socket.

He then tackled it with all his might, crashing against the walls and plowing the monster through the temple.

"Lars!" They called out to him. The side of the temple collapsed as Lars sent Antares outside.

Antares kept on regenerating, healing itself with Artemis' arcanum.

And Lars clawed onto its chest like a ferocious beast. Tearing its shell apart with his claws and teeth.

Roaring like a wild beast, the whole forest quieted down as they heard and felt the roar that carried mana with it.

Lars' eyes turned red and his body began to swell.

Antares' attacks bounced off of his skin and Lars charged like an unstoppable juggernaut.

Releasing an onslaught of attacks that shook the whole forest.

His senses, focusing on one thing. Pure, unadulterated destruction.

Annoyed at the monster's regeneration, dorsal plates appeared on his back.

Like hammers, that were raised. They lifted themselves up, glowing a bright blue.

"Protect yourselves! Burrow into the ground and make a trench, now!" Ryuu who was the most sensitive to magic broke into a cold sweat.

Tiona quickly dug up a trench with her crusher and everybody helped her with the endeavor.

They saw the air gather around Lars' mouth and his chest expanded. The inside of his mouth glowing an electric blue as lightning crackled around him.

And when the plates on his back were all cocked. They suddenly slammed back downwards like a hammer.

All of the concentrated mana inside of them flowing back to him in an instant.

Releasing a thick, blue stream of pure energy. The forest was blown away like super typhoons passed the area.

The ground where the beam went past through melted into lava and thousands of tons of rock gave way due to its unstoppable force.

Antares was swept up by it, even though it had a barrier in front of it made out of divine energy.

It was only a quick attack, but when it arrived at a nearby mountain range with Antares. It suddenly exploded.

A second sun appeared on the ground, illuminating the whole area like it was afternoon.

A truly massive fireball vaporized the mountain and a heat wave made everything that could catch fire, ignite.

The shockwave then came and earthquakes rumbled. The earthshattering explosion lifted hundreds of thousands of tons of dust and earth in the sky, creating a mushroom cloud.

Lars' lips burned off as superheated steam escaped from his mouth.

The scenery looked apocalyptic. No trees remained around them. Fires burned everywhere.

And the mountain that was at the horizon disappeared completely.

The girls who were buried under their trench escaped from it and they looked at what happened.

"N-no way..." They could only see destruction as far as the eye can see.

Baptised by fire, wreathed in agony, a vengeful monster that leaves unrivaled destruction in its wake.

"Orion!" Artemis rushed towards Lars and the girls couldn't stop her in time.

Artemis tackled Lars, her skin burning due to the intense heat he was emitting.

"Lars! Get a hold of yourself! This is not you!" Artemis cried as she hugged him tightly.

"Artemis-sama! Lars is out of it right now! Get back!" The girls shouted, but she didn't listen.

"Orion... Let's enjoy ten thousand years worth of love, when I reform and you reincarnate. With this divine spark I have left, I hope you will bring me to rest." Artemis activated her arcanum.

The last drops of her divine power flowed into him. Fighting fiercely with his wrath.

Artemis kissed his forehead and she disappeared as tears dropped from her eyes.

Lars roared, his body starting to turn back to normal.

He then kneeled down as he regained his senses. Extreme fatigue wracking his body.

"W-what just happened?" He could feel that he was suffering from tons of internal damage.

He then looked around and it looked like a storm passed through. A storm of fire that is.

"Lars! Are you okay now?" Airmid ran up to him and immediately healed him.

"Y-you lost yourself. And Artemis-sama used her arcanum to bring you back." Lyra explained with furrowed brows.

He went silent. Clenching his fists, hard. "Where's Antares?" He had to focus on the matter at hand first.

"Over there, at that blown up mountain." Kaguya pointed at the mountain where Antares blew up.

And there was still a mushroom cloud over yonder.

"I did that? Tch, I should focus on saving Artemis first, Airmid let's go." Lars drank a mana potion and he flew with Airmid towards the mountain.

When he arrived, he saw that the monster was in tatters. But it was still slowly regenerating.

Although, the crystal around Artemis was exposed.

"I carried this with me." Airmid handed him Orion's arrow.

His rage started to boil again, but instead of succumbing to it. He landed right next to it.

"You'll be of use in another way." Lars took a bite off of it and Airmid winced at the sound.

A bone crunching sound was heard as he ate Antares bit by bit.

After a few minutes, the others arrived as well and the Astraea familia watched in surprise as he ate the monster.

Finishing it off, he could feel its powers flow inside of him. The ability to manipulate arcanum.

"Now, why would you need to return to tenkai first? We can enjoy ten thousand years worth of love right now." Lars dug his fingers inside the crystal Artemis was in and he cracked it open.

And with Antares being extinguished thoroughly, the arcanum activating at Orario that formed a second moon evaporated.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.