243 CHAPTER 241(New Great Quest)

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CHAPTER START---

"So why is Gaia being this dramatic?" Hephaestus asked. Arms folded under her chest and staring up at Ouranos with an uncertain look.

She was currently standing at the steps of his altar, the elder god still keeping his facade of boredom even in the midst of this new crisis.

"A new threat has arisen," Ouranos says, speaking as if it were inconsequential.

"A new threat?" Hephaestus feigns ignorance, an act that would never work had almost any other god tried to use it against Ouranos. But certain perks are gained as the World Forger.

"Something has invaded the dungeon," Ouranos says. "Gaia has stopped producing monsters and resources until it is outside her walls. Whatever this thing is, it uses Arcanum, a worrying prospect."

Hephaestus frowns and raises a finger to her chin, "my team said they were fighting a monster when the dungeon collapsed around them, they called me a few minutes ago to give me an update. They should be back in Orario before long."

"Hmm," Ouranos ponders this information for a moment. "If they've already faced it, even before Arcanum, they have valuable knowledge. But even with that knowledge, any other adventurer won't be of use in this matter, they will have to bring it down themselves."

"As usual," Hephaestus sighs. "And I assume Gaia is cutting all production in the dungeon so people think this is a new Great Quest?"

Ouranos nods, "the people and other gods must believe that the dungeon is acting naturally, and that the guild knows exactly what is going on, always."

"Right, so aside from us nobody gets the truth, as usual," Hephaestus earns a nod from Ouranos. "And how exactly are they supposed to kill, or even fight something that can use Arcanum? Anything that touches it is destroyed."

"An even more worrying situation, it should be impossible to use Arcanum without angering heaven, and the dungeon imprisons any gods who die within by exploiting their connection to heaven. Yet somehow this monster is able to work around both those rules."

"Fighting a monster that kills with the slightest touch," Hephaestus grumbles. "You never give my familia any easy missions Ouranos," she looks up at him with her best pleading face. "If I could use my divinity I could connect to heaven and make them something to fight it, you know Arcanum cancels Arcanum after all."

"If only I could grant that," Ouranos says. "But we both know I only mediate, heaven dictates the rules, and that would get you locked away in heaven for eons."

Hephaestus sighs, "I know, and I'd lose all my time with Welf. Alright, so what's the plan until we figure this out?"

"The first and second class adventurers will be sent to intercept this monster on the 18th Floor."

"What?" Hephaestus gives him a perplexed look. "We just agreed this thing uses Arcanum, they can't even hurt it, much less let it touch them. They'll die!"

Ignoring her shout Ouranos continues, "they would have sacrificed themselves so your team could solve the problem. All time is valuable, their deaths will be noble, besides. If that thing escapes the dungeon, it would be up to them to fight it either way."

"Right," Hephaestus agrees, reluctantly. "How will you explain the Arcanum to the other gods."

"Quite easily, a foolish god who entered the dungeon was corrupted by it and became this monster in death, that should explain everything."

Hephaestus was genuinely impressed, a perfect lie manifested so casually. And it would scare gods away from entering the dungeon more than before. "That'll work," she said. "Anything else?"

"No, now I must instruct Royman to have all exports and sale of items made from Dungeon Materials halted, without the dungeon prices could inflate, and adventurers fighting each other is the last thing we want. And I will task Ganesha with keeping curious adventurers out of the dungeon, they may see the lack of monsters as a chance to explore deeper floors," Ouranos says. "You may leave."

"Right," Hephaestus rolls her eye at his dismissal and turns around, casually exiting the room with a mind full of worry and questions.

As Hephaestus leaves Ouranos closes his eyes and prays. Contacting the will of Gaia in the dungeon, sensing no change, no movement at all.

Ouranos sighs, "almost fifteen years of mundane peace, and now all of this nonsense. New monsters, a new Great Quest, The Trifecta. All to keep petulant gods amused..."

---2 Hours Later...

Ouranos sits with his eyes closed, focusing his prayers on Babel itself. Imbuing it with divine enchantments. Just as he did when it was first constructed, intending for this tower to outlast everything else in this world by sheer durability.

Each brick is a thousand times stronger than stone even before the magic and force-resistant enchantments take hold.

GRRRR!

The grinding of stone snaps him out of his meditation. Turning to his left he sees a hidden door slide upwards to reveal a hallway. Fels steps out of it, clad in his abyssal robe, completely hiding his body and face. Bony fingers still concealed in metal gloves, seemingly floating across the floor until he stands before Ouranos.

"What has become of them?" Ouranos asks.

"The Xenos are unbothered by the changes, thankfully, it seems the dungeon only affected the crystals within its walls, or within non-sentient monsters," Fels says.

"And their current capabilities?" Ouranos asks, "should this unknown threat find them, what would become of them?"

"Uncertain my lord," Fels ponders the question for a moment. "Lyd is already level five, a terrifying rate of growth."

"Faster than you predicted."

"Yes, as always they have been collecting the crystals left in the wake of The Trifecta, Lyd has been able to venture deeper than the others, but he reports that after certain floors the crystals simply disappear, but their value wouldn't have increased at all."

"Hmm, you believe there could be more Xenos on the deeper floors?"

"Precisely," Fels says. "But an entirely new colony, since they are naturally drawn toward each other in groups. The store of crystals the Xenos had was also destroyed by the dungeon, they are unable to grow until this situation is resolved, and any crystals that enter the dungeon would meet the same fate."

"Hmm, a precarious situation. Keep them hidden as usual. Adventurers are waiting to attack the first monster they see, a group of intelligent, sentient, talking monsters would only cause more problems. Have them remain in one of the hidden areas until this threat is dealt with, as quietly as possible. We don't want The Trifecta becoming aware of them, I doubt even Hephaestus can anticipate their reaction." Ouranos scoffs, "she can't even control those three, they only listen to each other..."

Fels kneads his fingers together before speaking, "from my brief interaction with Emperor Shen, I agree with this course of action. An unpredictable individual such as himself who answers to no one other than his own desires should be kept away from the Xenos. Should he wish to help, a better ally we could never find, but they are monsters. Intelligent, sentient, and able to speak, but still monsters, and he is the best at hunting monsters. Should he choose to purge them, we would be helpless to defend them."

Ouranos narrows his eyes at Fels, "you've quickly grown fond of those monsters, but remember, should he decide they must not exist, you will not fight with them, to die with them."

"Yes my lord," Fels bows slightly.

"That will be all, you are dismissed..."

---Floor 70 Safe Zone...

Standing at the edge of their plateau in the safe zone, Yang stares out at the massive forest covering the floor.

Trees ten meters wide and dozens of meters tall as far as the eye can see, the area of this floor could fit Orario a few times easily.

And as all the greens plants lit by the dungeon crystal ceiling hit him, he felt nothing.

Wearing only some shorts, hands hanging at his side...hand. His metal left hand was still broken, only a few millimeters of metal still attached to his forearm.

Looking down he sees the spot that once had that treacherous little scar, now fully healed.

"As if it were never there..." he mutters aloud. Lifting his right hand to touch the spot, unable to tell it apart from anywhere else on his chest.

Closing his eyes Yang combed over everything, as much as he could remember he tried to picture every moment. Every place, every bit of pain he endured, every person he hurt, all the people that died.

All for his adventure, all for him to so easily throw it away the moment a friend was threatened.

He expected something more, something fiery. Rage, pain, hurt, anything. The entire adventure, over, just like that, he'd never see his family again. He could see their crying faces, not knowing what ever happened to him.

And he hated himself for it, because while they were crying, he smiled.

A wide smile spread across his face as he took a deep breath, and just let it all go.

And that's exactly how Thalie and Welf found him, standing at the edge of the plateau with his back to them. The bright red glow of his Falna forced them to squint for a moment before they found their places beside him, Welf to his left and Thalie at his right.

Thalie broke the silence, "glad to see you're finally awake, how are you feeling?"

Yang just shrugs, but keeps smiling, "I have no idea, I'll tell you when I figure it out." Thalie only nods in response, and continues staring out at the forest. "How long was I out this time?"

"Two days," Welf says. "You need to go back into the hospital this time?"

Yang chuckles and raises his left hand, gesturing to the broken metal, "eventually, but I feel healthy enough, just sore."

Welf shakes his head, "that's gonna be a pain to replace, and you'll probably just get it destroyed because of the Arcanum..."

"Arcanum?" Yang asked.

"Right," Welf turns to face Yang. "Tell us what you and The Angel were talking about and we'll fill you in on what happened after, let's just say the world is scared."

Yang quirks a brow at this but doesn't question it, "alright, well The Angel wanted..."

END CHAPTER---