Chapter 5: A Conspiracy

ffing on the ground. Alfia beat the shit out of him once again.

"You're too strong Alfia, do you even have a weakness?" Lars asked her after he caught his breath.

"I used to, but you cancelled it." Alfia shrugged and Lars remembered his elixir.

"Ahhh, so you have an illness or something?" Lars got curious and she nodded with a frown.

"If it's unpleasant for you, then I won't pry." He smiled at her.

"It does, or more like it did. But not anymore." Alfia sat down besides him.

"I had a twin sister. We were both born with an incurable illness." Alfia looked at the sky and she wondered if Meteria was looking over her son.

"My condolences." Lars noticed her wording and she didn't mind.

"Thank you, anyways. Her name is Meteria... And I... I took everything from her." Alfia frowned heavily.

Lars had a feeling that asking why would be insensitive. And she will most likely continue.

She just had that sad expression on her face. And it didn't match her brutality and confidence.

"Meteria was normal, just a girl. And our illness made her as fragile as glass. While me, I absorbed all of her talent in the womb. I am exceptional, talented, monstrously so." Alfia clenched her hand.

'I see... She blames herself for her sister's misfortune.' Lars almost sighed at her self depreciation.

"Meteria couldn't even go outside much, she stayed at home most of the time. So I trained... Then I entered a familia.

It's so Meteria will have a better life that she rightfully deserves. And the Hera familia took interest in me." Alfia reminisced their childhood.

"I grew stronger and stronger, until I turned into an executive of the Hera familia.

And that perverted bastard Zeus... He is Hera's husband, two pieces of garbage made for each other." Alfia's tongue released poison.

'Damn, she really hates them...' Lars sweated at Alfia's hatred.

"And one of Zeus' children managed to trick Meteria..." Alfia grinded her teeth in rage.

Lars almost choked at her killing intent. And the ground trembled due to her rage.

"Meteria got pregnant and she died due to her poor health." Alfia went into deep thought.

"What happened to her child?" Lars changed the topic or Alfia would most likely go on a rampage.

"I couldn't take care of him. Meteria gave my nephew to Zeus in order to take care of him." Alfia closed her eyes.

"It is something I regret every single day. But what can I do? I will also leave him soon." Alfia sighed.

"As the strongest familias, the Hera and Zeus familias were tasked with 3 great quests. The behemoth, leviathan, and the one eyed black dragon." Alfia renumerated them.

"Great quests? Sounds dangerous." Lars could already imagine it.

"That they are... A friend of mine, Zald. He was poisoned because he ate the flesh of the behemoth. You two actually have similar skills. But his, is not as strong as yours." She looked at him curiously.

"While the Leviathan, in order for it to not flee. I killed it with my 3rd magic. Genos Angelus, my disease worsened after that." Alfia frowned heavily.

She then went quiet. "How about the dragon?" Lars asked.

"We were defeated soundly. Not even my captain who was a level 9 adventurer could do anything to it." Alfia shook her head.

"Damn, then it's the last boss yeah?" Lars could imagine how strong that thing is.

Alfia could mow down monsters for hours with breakneck speeds.

Her magic makes things explode in just a blink of an eye. But they got stomped by it.

And there are stronger people that was with them.

"It is... The only survivors are me and Zald. Everyone else died." Alfia sighed.

Lars went quiet and he didn't want to comment anything about that.

"Thus, we decided to live our final moments peacefully. That is, until an evil god approached us." Alfia smiled and Lars went wide eyed.

"An evil god? What happened?" He got engrossed in the story.

"Erebus, he gave us a chance to use our final moments. To give the strongest adventurers that will be the future of Orario a challenge in order to level up." Alfia shrugged.

"So, stepping stones..." Lars admired their final gift to the adventurers in the surface.

"I don't even know if it's going to be worth it. I helped a bunch of level 5's and 3's to level up. I could've squashed them like a bug." Alfia snorted.

"How about your buddy?" Lars was curious about Zald.

"He made a level 7. But it's not enough, not nearly enough now that I think about it. That new level 7 can't even face the behemoth or leviathan that is so much weaker than the black dragon." Alfia shook her head wistfully.

"Then doesn't this place have a definitive time limit? What if that thing rampages around in the surface?" Lars frowned at the thought.

"It already destroyed a kingdom. And caused widespread destruction." Alfia said seriously.

"Where is it then?" Lars was surprised that the dragon didn't just bathe the world in fire or something.

"It flew up north... We don't know what it's doing, nobody does." Alfia frowned.

"Then your familias were tasked in dealing with it. That's some heavy stuff." He clicked his tongue.

It seems that people are the same anywhere. They just wait for heroes to arrive.

Not that it's inherently a bad thing. Not everyone can fight and be like Alfia.

He even doubts that somebody like her can appear again. A combatant that is held back by a disease heavily, rising up as one of the strongest people ever.

"But why aren't people trying to do something? Just waiting patiently to die?" Lars' tone turned harsh.

If there was something they were really good at. That is producing weapons of mass destruction.

Lars doubted that dragon could survive the whole arsenal of humanity from his world.

Humans are capable of so much destruction that it isn't even funny. They can turn the whole planet to a wasteland.

Alfia was surprised by his sudden shift. "What do you mean?" She was unfortunately stuck with the denizens of Orario.

Thinking that the top most adventurers are the only ones that can kill the threat.

"Humans are tenacious bastards, the gods are basically useless. Why rely on them solely?" Lars have learned things from Alfia.

They have arcanums, their divine powers to wield.

If they really wanted to, the gods could just bombard the dragon and be done with it.

Yet they raise adventurers. "They don't see their familias as their children. Because if they do, they'll destroy the dungeon and the monsters at all costs." Lars frowned.

"An enemy of humanity that will only lead to bloodshed and suffering. There are numerous gods around. They can surely do it, but they don't. Just to be entertained." Lars hissed.

Alfia went quiet. Now that she thought about it, that was true.

What is a mortal dragon? Against the gods of heaven and their divine might.

It all made sense to her now. Why the gods don't tell anyone what the dungeon truly is and how it even appeared in the first place.

"I think the dungeon and monsters are made by the gods. Not a natural phenomena." Alfia theorized.

"After all, they all spread propaganda that monsters are the enemies. That the dungeon needs to be dived into." Alfia clenched her fist.

"Yet why is there only one of them? If it's a natural occurence that the planet creates to cull humans as per the rules of nature. Then why is there only one?" Alfia was creating a conspiracy theory.

And it made sense, otherwise. Why won't the gods just blast the dungeon into oblivion? The black dragon? Leviathan? And the behemoth?

If monsters are the enemies of humanity, then why not eradicate them?

"Yeah... And if it's for the bullshit reason of not meddling with mortals. Then why are they even handing out falna in the first place?" Lars arrived at a hypothesis.

They can experience a mortal's life even without monsters and adventurers.

"They simply don't care... And it's all a game for them." Alfia gritted her teeth.

"Hah, wait for a second. This must have some truth to it. But not completely." Lars calmed down and he thought about it.

"What do you mean?" Alfia raised a brow. "Just like humans, there must be elder gods right? Those who make rules for them?" Lars squinted his eyes.

"Yes... There is one, Ouranos. It is said that he is using his divinity to hold back the dungeon." Alfia remembered the god.

"Then he must know the reason... Why else would they ban the use of arcanum? To prevent chaos? Not quite, because they could just banish them to heaven again. And the use of it can still be regulated." Lars thought it was stupid.

They can't use their divine powers on the lower world or they'll be sent back to heaven.

If it was regulated, like guns or weapons. Then it's basically the same. But why aren't any of them using it to get an advantage?

Based on the gods he knew. They were just humans with great powers. Immortal, divine, yes. But not perfect, they can still be stupid, greedy, good, or evil.

"We need to learn more about this... But not now, we are too weak to do so." Alfia surprised him with her words.

After all, she has already shown him how powerful she is.

Alfia could shake entire floors of the dungeon with her magic and strength.

And the dungeon floors can even be larger than the city above.

"Are you saying that we should reach the realm of gods?" Lars frowned. That would take a really long time.

"Yes, we should. So kick your butt into gear, we need to get stronger." Alfia stood up.

"But you don't have a falna anymore..." Lars pointed out that she couldn't level up.

"Then we find one." Alfia squinted her eyes and she looked upwards towards the surface.

"Right now?" Lars raised a brow at her and she shook her head.

"No, not yet. I can't afford to be seen yet. I need to let the heat die down." Alfia shrugged.

"Then, let's continue with making me get stronger?" He smiled at her.

"Hmph, eager still? I like that, just don't be noisy." Alfia created another pair of wooden training weapons for him.

And so, he trained like a mad man. "Too slow! Stand up!" Alfia always hit him when he made a mistake.

It wasn't a soft one too. It was directly tied to his status, Alfia would swing her weapon at him with the same intensity that someone his level was at.

Every blow would sting like a motherfucker. And she targets all the soft spots too, the only exception was his groin and eyes.

When he's not fighting for his life against her, he was eating his stockpile of magic stones. Gorging himself with it until he got full.

He didn't know why, but monster drops and magic stones satiated him. Even for a small amount of time.

They then found out that once he was full, he would enter a cooldown time where anything he ate while in that time frame will not give him any strength.

Thinking that it was the way of the skill to not make him explode due to his growth, he opted to train more of his skills in that time.

Falling into a not so comfortable routine, he lived every second with purpose. With burning determination.

Gods lived there in that world. And they could just order around their adventurers like their slaves.

What's stopping them from trying to take his peace once he's found out?

Once they see that he was involved with someone like Alfia?

They would stop at nothing to annoy him to no end. Annoy him was even too soft of a word.

The gods will do everything to poke and prod at them.

And he couldn't afford to be weak. Alfia's weakest link is him. So he had to get stronger to get rid of that weakness.

"Hey, Alfia. We're partners right?" Lars asked her while they rested on their new cabin.

"Hmmm? Why would you even ask?" Alfia looked at him weirdly.

"Well, just answer the question yeah?" He got embarrassed a bit. And it also lingered inside of his mind.

Will Alfia stay besides him when they reveal themselves on the surface?

"Of course, I have become accustomed to your noise." Alfia rolled her eyes.

"My noise? What does that even mean?" He snorted.

"You wouldn't understand, now get your butt up and start training again. I want your swings to be perfect." Alfia huffed at him.

"Yes boss lady~" He sighed and she glared at him. "Are you calling me old?"

"What? No. Why would you even think that?" Lars raised a brow at her and she stared at him.

She then huffed as she turned around, waiting for him outside.

"She's gotta tone down her neuroticism..." Lars sighed at her unpredictable behavior.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.