Chapter 106

"You didn't need to battle. I'll do it for you. You only need to open the Boss Room for me." Time is the essence for you after all." Lilith voiced while casually flicking another monster to death with her finger.

"Then, why not skip all this nonsense and immediately bring me to the next layer?" Ray replied while suspiciously eyeing at Lilith while also putting holes on the incoming monster's wings that look similar to Pterodactyl dinosaurs.

Lilith didn't answer immediately to Ray's question but eying at the incoming Elite enemy or the Mini Boss.

From analysis, the Roc is around level 500+ while he didn't know the level of Lilith but her casual display tells that such enemies didn't mean anything in her eyes.

Lilith raises her right arm and makes a gesture of bending her index finger inward to her palm that can be mistaken as telling the enemies to make their first move. However, not a second letter and spirit-like deformed monster appear with its large circular jaw lined with thousands of razor sharp mouths and devoured the Roc's left wing.

The Roc release a shrill cry of pain and use its strong and deadly sharp talons to attack the monster that ate its wing but only for all the attacks to harmlessly phase through the spirit-like monster.

Another order issued from her finger, the monster revealed it's full body that looks like a bloated wurm dragon with protruding spines randomly lined all over its body. The monster tears open its jaw even wider into eight sections before gobbling down the Roc.

Ray watched as a level 500+ monster being fed to a pet like a helpless chicken tied on a plate for that spirit-like monster.

"Ah, don't mind him. My puppy here is hungry and demanded the monster as its meal." Lilith shrugged the incident before going back to Ray's question.

"To start off, my creator didn't specify how I should 'help' you. He only said I will be lending my assistance which in other words means I can decide how I should help you. Besides, there isn't any free meal in this world. So, I will provide you the necessary information to reach your wives but in exchange you will help me save my creator's people by clearing the dungeons."

"Well, more specifically. You will be the key to help me access the Boss Room and conquer them to stop spawning more monsters."

All that Lilith said is reasonable to Ray. He can't expect free help from a stranger and this 'assistance' he is providing isn't difficult by any means. But, rather it's wasting time.

"What's with that face? If you are dissatisfied with this arrangement then complain about your inability to save them yourself." Lilith mocked Ray of his own weakness.

"Strength is everything in Demon's society. Without strength, there isn't an ounce of respect that will be given to you. You should be grateful that your predecessor's achievement garner enough respect from my creator enough to assist you instead of throwing you out to a pack of wolves to be devoured." Lilith said to Ray with disdain before marching forward without looking back to Ray.

Couldn't refute Lilith's words, Ray swallowed his dissatisfaction and followed behind Lilith. However, he is far from surrendering. He is forced to follow Lilith for now because it will save him more time than searching blindly on this layer that is as big as an earth in size. Searching for the elevator will be like searching a needle in a haystack especially when his satellite isn't here to assist him.

———

While Ray and his wives are kidnapped, Kazuma and his party that is blissfully unaware of the situation are clearing another dungeon that spawns kobolds. The four are proceeding well after the lesson from Ray. Their teamwork improved and they have stable improvement.

"Hey, Kazuma. Let's wrap up our dungeon diving today and return to the frontier town again. I'm craving some Blue Slime Pudding again." Aqua proposed to Kazuma, the wallet of the party after every single one of them cannot be trusted with their earnings.

"I second that." Megumin with a sparkle in her eyes gasped and then looked down to her stomach when a growl was heard.

"Indeed, I am supportive of this suggestion too." Darkness said after wiping her sweat and sheathed her sword.

"We had been diving in this dungeon for two days in a row. My back hurts from sleeping on bare ground for two nights. It's time to return to the town and sleep in a proper bed." Aqua demanded but Kazuma could only put a flat stare on all three of them.

"Rejected." Kazuma said before continuing walking deeper into the dungeon without any hesitation or looking back.

"Wait, Kazuma. Kazuma!" Megumin and Aqua shouted while Darkness was making weird body movements and muttering something about denial play and teasing her at the same time having a blushed face.

"This is inhuman! I'm starving, tired and aching all over my body. This isn't how you treat a goddess." Aqua complained to Kazuma that steadily marched deeper into the purposely unconquered dungeon and accurately cut down any Kobold effortlessly on their weak point on every strike. An act that deem impossible for Kazuma's current physical prowess but made possible due to his cheat-like luck stat that even allow him cheat death few times either by timely slip of his leg that make him bend away and evade the fatal blow or Aqua timely arrival to heal or resurrect him from his permanent death.

"Who's fault is it that it went ahead and got wasted in the tavern? Who is it that decides to use our hard earned fund to buy everyone a drink? Who was it that secretly used our fund on expensive alcohol to the extent of taking debt? Who is-"

"I get it. It's my fault. I apologize, okay. Can we just return to the town for a while? I promise to reflect on my mistake. So, stop working us to death." Aqua cried and sobbed while begging for forgiveness from Kazuma but his gaze on her became more severe as if he was staring at a trash.

"Why do you think I work tirelessly in this dungeon, huh? Even if we return to the town, do you think he can get any food when we are hunted by the noble that you are taking loan from?" Kazuma walks past a bioluminescent moss that lights up the surroundings with dim light that reveal dark bags under his eyes and pale skin from tirelessly killing monsters.

"If I could exchange you for anything better, I would do it immediately. Inhuman? No conscience? Whose fault is it? Huh? You should be grateful I didn't even ditch you in the middle of the forest, you useless dead weight goddess." The tired Kazuma continued his repetitive routine and cut down the next incoming kobold without even hearing what Aqua even had to say.

The goddess burst out crying after hearing what Kazuma had to say. Megumin and Darkness that just arrived, sighed and supported the goddess to march forward before being left behind. They sighed because their attempt to cheer the party didn't work. This isn't the first time this happened. This happened multiple times as they were fleeing the grasp of the noble that declared them as criminals due to Aqua failing to pay her massive debt and couldn't return to civilization without being hunted down by the bounty hunters eager to capture them, dead or alive.

Fortunately, the frontier town is also a nest for criminals that fled the authorities and they can still have access to some necessities like selling off loot they acquired. For stuff like foods and waters etc, they can still forage and hunt or Kazuma buying from Marketplace but he is saving those points for better gears to equip his party.

"Found you" An unknown voice rings through Kazuma's ears.

Suddenly, a blue light burst out the floor under Kazuma and a magic circle quickly drew itself out of thin air. Before he was able to react, his body already teleported away from the dungeon. Leaving his speechless and shocked teammate behind.

"KAZUMA!" The panicked cries of his party members echoed in the dungeon and the owner of the name had been teleported away.

———

In the fourth upper layers, a few gods gather and are discussing something.

"They aren't heroes at all. What a waste of time and resources to bring them here." The aggressive God of War slammed his fist on the table and smashed it into dust but the god that radiated holy aura and wearing ancient Roman toga spread his power to undo the damage like time is reversed until the table reformed itself.

"So, it's the same as others." The god said after finish repairing the table.

"Yes and it seems that I failed to bend her to my will. Something is protecting their mind and will undo all my effort tampering with her mind. Not even puppeting or torture them will work." The Goddess of Justice, Themis pouted while complaining to her fellow gods.

The other gods nodded as all their attempts of taking control over the 'heroes' failed. Not even forceful methods like stealing their mortal flesh will work. Well, it technically worked but failed to achieve the objective which means either the 'heroes' aren't actually heroes but companions of the heroes or the device wouldn't activate because it can sense the soul of the body isn't the heroes but someone else.

"If it is the former then it means the Demons are in possession of the real hero. For the latter, we would need to find a way to make them willingly cooperate with us to unlock the secret left behind by the heroes." The unofficial leader among the gods voiced his thoughts which all listened attentively.

"Do you think the Demons know about our secret plan and purposely take away the real hero?" The previously silent member of the council of gods, speaked and aroused several attention to himself.

The gods, especially the unofficial leader, the god wearing ancient Roman toga, narrowed his eyes on the god that just voiced his thoughts.

"Is this a revelation from your divine wisdom or just random guessing, Mimir?" The god asked and Mimir replied the latter.

"Hyperion, my old ally. All this might be just a coincidence but we must be careful. After suffering multiple failures, even a small coincidence like this must be treated carefully lest our centuries old plan will fall into shambles like a house made of cards." Mimir said before giving his farewell and dismissed himself from the gathering.

He lied on the council, his divine wisdom actually showed him the future. An inevitable destruction in the pursuit of power. Whatever treasure might be stored in the relic left behind by the heroes isn't enough to tempt Mimir. His fellow gods is another matter entirely. He once advised them to abandon the quest of unlocking the pandora box due to the scene revealed to him by his divine wisdom two centuries ago while he was deciphering the method of unlocking the relics. However, the temptation and promise of power is enough to blind the gods from the danger the Pandora box will release.

If so, he will save himself only and let wil blinded allies to their own pursuit of their own demise. He himself still remembers the horror that is the heroes during the invasion of the Outer Gods. Their apocalyptic powers didn't come entirely from their own abilities or skills. He still remembered the weapon of Destruction created by a hero that has a knack in creating things. Especially weapons of mass destruction.

The scene of apocalyptic battle not even god like him can imagine. Late in the war, the seventh lower layer had been breached by the Outer Gods and turned into a forward base for them to breach the upper layer. Seeing that the layer is gone and seizing the layer from the enemy's hand was impossible, the hero rained down thousands of warheads across the seventh lower layers. When it exploded, everything was gone. None remain. Not the enemies, not the allies, not even the land. Everything vanished leaving behind a land that remained scarred even after five centuries, ravaged by thousands of miniature blackholes created by detonation of the warheads.

Yet, that isn't even the worst of what heroes are capable of. The testament to that word is the greatest weapon conceived by the heroes in order to fuel the war effort. The concept is simple. Turning the abundant enemies into unwilling allies and shedding blood on the battlefield for the heroes.

There is no limit to their ingenious creation that is equally, endlessly horrific when being subjected to those creations. He still remembered when many gods turned their tails and went into hiding to escape being sent to the frontline. Many of his pantheon members that refused to fight were subjected to enslavement and sent into the frontline to fight the Outer Gods invasion.

Once the enslavement is applied, the victim will lose the control of their body and will. None of those belong to them anymore as they are sent to their death as cannon fodder on the frontline.

In short, Mimir wants nothing to do with whatever the Pandora box will release upon the world. He already advised them and none paid heed to him then they were on their own. He will see himself out of this group.

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