[FGO]: 36

No more delays!

In just a few short minutes, the main force of one of Orario's strongest familias, the Loki Familia, was about to be annihilated here.

With a decision already made in his heart, Ryou began to recklessly and desperately use magic to enhance his body.

The violent magic easily tore through his body's tissues, every muscle, and every inch of blood vessel.

In an instant, he became covered in blood, but the injuries he sustained triggered the effect of his Noble Phantasm, Crying Warmonger, causing a massive amount of magic power to be generated every second.

Supported by this magic, his Goliath Card Mystic Code granted him super-speedy recovery abilities.

Injury, generating massive magic power, recovery, and so on, in a continuous cycle.

Ryou was accumulating magic power within his body in this extreme, self-destructive manner!

At the same time, he transitioned from walking to running, accelerating as he entered the battlefield.

With the terrifying magic enhancement, every step he took caused the ground to tremble, with each footprint deeper and heavier than the last.

First, there were footprints, then deep holes, and finally, with every step he took, a massive semicircular pit would form on the ground, with the surrounding earth cracking open.

This was no longer a human; it was a humanoid dragon!

His speed also increased from normal walking to running, until eventually, only a series of afterimages and circular pits on the ground could be seen.

The members of the Loki Familia were all shocked as they watched Ryou return to the battlefield.

They couldn't believe that, as an outsider, he would come back.

"Get out of the way!" Ryou roared.

Finn instinctively stepped aside.

Ais, who was about to launch an attack, turned her head instinctively upon hearing the voice behind her.

Facing such a formidable enemy, she couldn't afford even a moment's distraction.

The terrifying Jellyfish-like monster immediately split into dozens of tentacles, viciously stabbing Ais.

Ais managed to avoid ninety percent of them, but there was one she simply couldn't dodge.

"It's over..."

Ais watched helplessly as two tentacles covered in disgusting bone spurs stabbed toward her, time seemingly slowing down, allowing her to see the barbs on the bone spurs in detail.

"It will hurt a lot... I'm so unwilling to die in a place like this. I haven't gained more power, haven't caught up to my mother's footsteps, haven't thanked that person..."

Ais closed her eyes, waiting for the final moment to come.

"Go back to sleep once you've had enough rest, but for now, take it easy, girl."

A familiar chuckle suddenly sounded in her ear.

"You!?"

Ais opened her eyes in surprise, finding herself held in Ryou's arms, having dodged the lethal strike.

Looking at him, she saw his abdomen had been pierced by a tentacle, and the bone spurs on it were constantly wriggling, seemingly gnawing at his flesh.

"!"

Ais instinctively placed her hand under his wound, as if trying to hold something in, but only caught a handful of blood.

"Don't worry, it just hurts a bit," Ryou said, his face pale from massive blood loss.

"Why...?"

The face rarely showing emotional fluctuation was now filled with guilt, regret, and pain.

"I just rushed up to save you, didn't think that much..."

Seeing Ais still wanting to speak, Ryou directly threw her to a safe distance, "You rest there for a while, I'll be quick."

In mid-air, Ais suddenly stretched out her hand, trying hard to grab Ryou's clothes, her eyes full of reluctance and fear.

This scene seemed to evoke memories she didn't want to recall.

"No! Don't leave me!"

Ais screamed, stretching out her arm, desperately trying to grab Ryou's sleeve like a child abandoned by their parents.

But with Ryou's current strength, even she couldn't resist; she was thrown far away.

Ryou then slowly turned back, looking at the oblivious Jellyfish-like monster, his gaze turning icy.

"Enjoying your meal? Now it's my turn," Ryou smiled conceitedly, gripping the tentacle that had pierced his body.

With a ripping sound, Ryou effortlessly tore off the tentacle that the Loki Familia had struggled to damage.

The sudden pain caused the Jellyfish-like monster to scream miserably.

Meanwhile, Ryou's wound rapidly healed, leaving only a tear in his clothing.

With tens to hundreds of times more magic power surging within him, Ryou felt unprecedentedly powerful.

There was nothing left to fear.

"Die!!!"

Ryou stomped the ground, shattering it into a hundred-meter-diameter crater, and in an instant, he appeared directly in front of the Jellyfish-like monster.

He threw a punch, and the sky and earth seemed to change.

Before his fist even made contact, the terrifying pressure from the wind of his punch compressed the Jellyfish-like monster's body, as if struck by an invisible giant fist.

An invisible shockwave spread from Ryou's fist, sending debris flying everywhere.

When his fist finally landed on the Jellyfish-like monster, its body caved inward uncontrollably.

Behind it, a white circular shockwave blasted into the distant forest, toppling and uprooting trees like a hurricane.

Despite the severe damage, the demonic mutation monster continued to roar furiously, its vitality astonishingly strong.

Ryou's expression remained unchanged.

There's nothing a punch can't solve. If one punch doesn't work, then two punches, and if two punches don't work, then countless punches!

He would fight until it was over!

Plus Ultra!!!

Ryou slowly and steadily retracted his fist to his side.

The demonic mutation, unwilling to be defeated, raised all its tentacles and rained them down on him like a storm.

Even before the tentacles hit, the air was filled with the sound of them tearing through it.

"Watch out!"

Ais, wanting to rush forward to help Ryou, was stopped by Finn.

"Ais, don't go. That's no longer a battlefield we can step into," Finn said, his eyes complicated as he watched the myth-like battle unfold.

"Go, brother! Smash it!" Tiona shouted childishly, then winced, "Ow, ow, ow! Sister, be gentle!"

Her sister, Tione, was treating her wounds with a healing potion and hearing this, her face changed, pinching Tiona's cheek.

The Loki Familia had already fully retreated from the battle, with the two elven mages starting to heal each other's wounds.

Facing the overwhelming tentacles, Ryou's retracted fist suddenly struck out, causing a loud explosion in the air.

His force was hundreds of times stronger than the demonic mutation!

With a flash of his fist, he severed hundreds of tentacles in an instant.

The Jellyfish-like monster let out a sharp scream, black, sludge-like blood gushing from the severed tentacles.

This was just the beginning. Ryou retracted his fist again, gathering power, and then struck out!

The Jellyfish-like monster caved in again, this time with a significantly larger area than before.

Ryou's expression remained unchanged as he retracted his fist again, beginning to gather his strength.

Sensing its life was in danger, the Jellyfish-like monster suddenly spewed out a large cloud of black mist.

The black mist quickly spread towards Ryou, dissolving everything in its path completely.

Ryou punched again, and the mere wind from his punch blew the all-dissolving black mist back, once more causing the Jellyfish-like monster to cave in.

The Jellyfish-like monster suddenly emitted a piercing screech. Following this sound, four purple-black magic circles appeared in front of it.

From the magic circles, four giant bears composed entirely of shadows charged at Ryou with bared fangs and claws.

Ryou merely punched again, dispersing the shadow bears instantly.

No matter how many transformations you have, I will break them with a single punch!

As time passed, the magic power Ryou accumulated grew more and more, and the enhancements from Mana Burst became increasingly terrifying. By now, he might already rival a real heroic spirit.

Ryou took a deep breath and shouted.

"Hahahaha! Wonderful! This pain is honor! This pain is life! Crying Warmonger!!!"

Then he delivered the final punch!

This punch raised a terrifying storm on the entire fifty-ninth floor, causing the entire dungeon to shake from top to bottom, and the punch itself transformed into light!

A massive white beam of light instantly blasted towards the demonic mutation monster.

Within the beam of light, the jellyfish was vaporized in an instant. The unimpeded beam continued to extend infinitely into the distance, striking the dungeon wall and blasting upwards.

Thus, today, everyone in Orario witnessed an unprecedented miraculous scene.

A white beam of light burst from the ground, shooting skyward at an angle, resembling a tilted pillar of heaven from afar. The beam gradually thinned and dispersed after a long while.

The members of the Loki Familia also witnessed an unprecedented sight.

A ray of sunlight shone through the massive hole created by the beam.

This was the first time they had seen real sunlight in the dungeon, thousands of meters underground.

The sunlight shone directly on Ryou, casting a rainbow-hued glow around him as if crowning him.

Watching the figure bathed in the radiant light, Finn murmured, "This is the true stance of a hero from myth and epic..."

Click, click, click!

A series of hurried footsteps sounded as Ais, disregarding everyone's gaze, ran swiftly and embraced the staggering Ryou.

"Brother is amazing! Ais is so bold!"

Tiona immediately turned into a gossiping onlooker, only to be silenced by a loving iron fist from her sister.

"Ah, youth is wonderful!"

Finn sighed like an old man. At this moment, Riveria walked up beside him.

Finn glanced at her and saw that Riveria was looking at the embracing pair with a complex expression.

"Don't overthink it. At least he is completely worthy of our princess," Finn advised.

Riveria sighed softly, her expression like that of a mother about to see her daughter get married after many years of raising her.

Thus, the Loki Familia completed their exploration of the fifty-ninth floor, reaching unprecedented heights, and Ryou fulfilled the system's task of eliminating the demonic mutation.

As the battle concluded, Revis and Tsubaki also returned with Bete and Gareth.

Except for Revis, the other three hurriedly went to care for their injured companions.

Only Revis stood apart, gazing from a distance at the heroic figure in the center of the battlefield, embraced by the beautiful Princess, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

At that moment, a voice came from the shadow of a nearby boulder.

"It looks like my presence isn't needed."

The voice was cold and aloof.

"It's you!?"

Revis instinctively placed her hand on the giant sword strapped to her back, but her dragon-like vertical pupils narrowed slightly when she saw who it was.

"Are you sure you want to draw your sword against me?"

Scathach, hidden in the shadows, spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, but Revis could hear the contempt and arrogance within.

A drop of sweat rolled down Revis's forehead as she placed her hand on the hilt of her sword, unable to draw it. She knew she had no chance of winning, not even one in ten thousand.

With Revis's pride, she looked down on even Demi Spirit, but she dared not be disrespectful to this female war god.

"What brings you here?"

Revis asked cautiously.

"My disciple is here, so of course, I came to check on him," Scáthach replied nonchalantly.

"So he's your disciple. I thought he was your enemy, given how cruel and heartless you are, letting him face such a powerful foe alone."

Revis couldn't help but feel a surge of anger and sarcastically retorted.

Since Ryou had explained the situation to her, Revis knew the plan. Scáthach, as the final backup, had been mentioned.

However, Scáthach had not come to their aid as agreed. If Ryou hadn't broken through at the last moment, they would have all perished here.

Though Revis was cold by nature, she felt justified in her resentment of this situation.

Scáthach's expression remained indifferent.

"Since he is my disciple, it's only natural for him to achieve this."

"Aren't you worried that an unexpected event might cause his downfall here?"

Even someone as emotionally detached as Revis was shocked by Scáthach's ruthless teaching methods.

"If he falls in such a place, it only proves he was never more than this and I can just revives him," Scáthach's tone remained extremely indifferent.

"You're a demon! Even the Spartans can't compare to you!"

"Thank you for the compliment, but I don't care what you or he think of me. I just need him to keep getting stronger to fulfill my wish..."

Scáthach thought but didn't say the last part aloud, letting it echo only in her mind.

On the other side, the exhausted Ryou was being supported by Ais as they walked toward the members of the Loki Familia.

"Amazing, brother."

Tiona was the first to give a thumbs-up.

"You saved us this time, especially the captain. Thank you."

Tione, ever the captain's fangirl, expressed her gratitude.

"Well done."

Even Riveria, usually cold towards Ryou, showed a slight smile.

"Tch~! This time, I'll concede you won."

The werewolf Bete, still following the classic tsundere template, wasn't cute at all despite being a silver-haired male werewolf.

Lefiya, on the other hand, didn't speak. She looked at Ryou with a conflicted expression. Though he was her rival in love, his face no longer seemed so detestable.

Could it be that I'm in love with him? That's impossible!

Yet Lefiya, with her vivid imagination, began fantasizing about a scenario where she, Ryou, and Ais were together, living in harmony.

Being a pure-hearted elf, her fantasies were limited to things like feeding each other and lap pillows, without even a kiss, let alone anything more intimate.

Even so, Lefiya's vivid imagination made her drool.

Three people together might not be so bad...

As Lefiya was lost in her daydreams,

"Young man, well done. It looks like I'm getting old and can start thinking about retirement, hahaha~!"

Gareth laughed heartily, sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"Gareth, what are you talking about? It's far too early to think about retirement now. That's an order from the captain. Mention 'retirement' again, and you'll be banned from drinking for a month," Finn suddenly said, pretending to be serious.

"Then just kill me instead. For a dwarf, going a month without drinking is a death sentence," Gareth grumbled.

Dwarves have naturally loud voices, and even though Gareth didn't lower his volume on purpose, everyone heard him and burst into laughter.

This laughter snapped Lefiya out of her daydreams, and she looked at everyone, confused, with question marks practically popping over her head.

After the laughter subsided, Finn put on a serious face and spoke to Ryou.

"Mr. Gudao, our Loki Familia owes you a great debt."

As the leader of the group, Finn was adept at social interactions. His words quickly closed the distance between them.

Ryou hesitated slightly, then detached himself from Ais's support and removed the magical mask from his face.

"This is my true face. My real name is Nguyen Ryou."

"What! You're from the East?"

Tiona exclaimed in surprise.

Everyone else was equally shocked, except for the three leaders and Ais. Ais had already seen Ryou's true appearance, and the three leaders had long suspected it. Today merely confirmed their suspicions.

"I had important reasons for hiding my true face. I'm sorry for deceiving you all for so long. Also, I'm not from the East; I am from a country farther away than the country in the East."

Ryou hesitated for a moment, then performed a traditional martial artist's salute, full of ancient chivalric style.

Finn observed everyone's reactions and smiled slightly.

"Thank you for your honesty. We're all adventurers here; it's normal for us to have secrets we don't want others to know."

Since the captain didn't pursue the matter, the other members naturally didn't have anything to say.

However, the sudden change from the Western-faced Gudao to the Eastern-faced Ryou was a bit disconcerting for some who weren't used to it.

"Alright, alright, let's head back. Everyone else is probably getting impatient," Finn clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention to himself and then announced loudly.

They were supposed to deal with the spoils of battle, but the demonic transformation had completely absorbed the body of the Demi Spirit, and then Ryou's Noble Phantasm had vaporized it.

Aside from a giant mark on the ground, slowly recovering due to the dungeon's influence, nothing else remained.

However, Ryou did gain considerable benefits.

In addition to a ten-roll reward for eliminating the demonic transformation, he received a Craft Essence Card from the Demi Spirit. Moreover, having passed the first trial world, the system unlocked many permissions.

One of these permissions allowed him to spend energy points to make natives similar to servants, enabling them to follow Ryou to Chaldea or other worlds.

Of course, it's not to say that the Loki Familia got no benefits at all. Reaching a floor that no one else had was a significant honor.

This intangible asset was invaluable, as the increased prestige of the Loki Familia would attract talented newcomers to join them and give them more influence in Orario.

As a wealthy, powerful family, these intangible assets were probably what they valued most.

As everyone helped each other out of the entrance to the fifty-first floor, the members of the Loki Familia guarding the fiftieth floor immediately surrounded them.

"We've conquered the fifty-ninth floor of the dungeon! Rejoice, everyone!"

With Finn's announcement, members of the Loki Familia, along with those from the Hephaestus Familia, erupted into cheers, turning the camp into a sea of joy.

The loud cheers even startled birds from the distant trees.

When the Loki Familia returned to the surface, news of their conquest of the fifty-ninth floor spread quickly.

The entire labyrinth city was thrown into a frenzy.

The Loki Familia accomplished a feat that even the once-dominant Zeus and Hera Familias, who had slain the three great kings, had not achieved.

The Loki Familia's prestige now rivaled that of the Freya Familia, home to Orario's strongest adventurer.

While the Loki Familia members went to celebrate, Ryou, being an outsider, didn't join in the festivities and returned to his dormitory alone.

When the clock struck midnight, the commotion brought about by the Loki Familia during the day seemed to have had no impact on the normal operations of this ancient labyrinth city.

Looking in from the tall city walls, aside from the brightly lit Pleasure Street, the entire Orario had almost completely fallen asleep.

At this moment, a figure appeared on the city wall—it was Nguyen Ryou himself.

Almost simultaneously, another figure leaped onto the wall.

Ryou looked at her golden hair, which shimmered even at night, and smiled.

"You came."

Ais nodded slightly, her face showing signs of being deep in thought.

Ryou immediately knew what was troubling her.

"Don't worry, we can come back again."

"Really?"

Ais's eyes lit up instantly.

"Of course. When have I ever lied to you?"

Ais thought for a moment and nodded.

"So, you agree?"

As the moment of truth arrived, a hint of unease flickered in Ryou's eyes.

Fortunately, Ais was an honest child, and she nodded without hesitation.

Ryou's heart leaped with joy. He immediately spent 100,000 energy points from the system in exchange for a D-rank Servant Contract.

It wasn't that he was being stingy. Based on his assessment of Ais's attributes, her overall strength wouldn't exceed D-rank, comparable to an ordinary heroic spirit. Exchanging for a higher-level contract would be a waste.

A completely blank card appeared in Ryou's hand.

He looked at it and found nothing unusual. Just as he was about to form a contract with Ais, a mischievous thought occurred to him, and he began to recite solemnly:

"I hereby declare.

Your body shall serve under me.

My fate shall be your sword.

Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail If you will submit to this will and this reason…

Then answer!"