Chapter 67 - The God of War

---Midgard, 3rd Person POV---

Going off of what it had gleaned from Shang Tsung's memory, the Dark Slime knew it needed to start gathering power. Knowing that it would only be a matter of time before Mael came looking for it, it wanted to strong enough power to fight him head on.

'The Gods of this universe are more than sufficient to gather power from.', the slime thought, 'I only need to seek out the one that hates Gods the most, and he will aide me if I offer him something in return.'

Bouncing through the strange forest, it could sense many powerful beasts roaming the area. Sensing the faintest traces of Divinity, the Slime knew there were Gods nearby but he had to prioritize things first. Following the scent of the man he was after, the slime slipped through the barrier hiding his home.

Using his senses to the fullest, the slime was able to sense the presence of two people. Unfortunately the man he was after wasn't here, but his presence was around the two of them. Deciding to wait for him, it tried to blend in but was discovered almost instantly.

"Mother, what is that?", the boy said spotting the slime almost immediately.

Turning her gaze to the creature, the woman stared at it for a moment. Trying to act like a normal slime to trick them, that tactic failed terribly. Telling her son to get back in the house, the boy asked her why. Sensing her reach for her weapon, the slime knew there was no use in hiding now. Shooting several poisonous darts at them, the mother grabbed her son and fled inside the home.

'I can't let them escape!!', the slime thought as it morphed into the shape of Shao Kahn, "We could have had a peaceful talk, but you had to reach for your weapon."

Pulling Shao Kahn's War Hammer out, the slime rushed towards the front door. Throwing her son out the back window, she ordered him to go find his father. Telling his mother he could help her, she told him to do as she asked and that no matter what she loved both of them. Hearing the attacker charging towards the door, she prepared to fight it to the death.

Diving out of the way, the woman barely avoided the War Hammer and subsequent blast caused by it as it vaporized the door. Summoning the Leviathan Axe to her, she led out a battle cry as she ran forward to fight. Shoulder checking him out of the home, she jumped forward and brought the axe down on him. Using the War Hammer's handle to stop the attack, the slime was surprised by how strong she really was.

"You are not a human.", the slime stated.

"No, I am not.", she grunted as she kicked him away.

Eager to learn more from the woman, the slime knocked her away and re-engaged her in combat. While they were locked in combat, the boy ran into the forest looking for his father. The two of them were not the closest, but his mother always told him that he was a good man. Calling out for his father, as he knew no other way to do it, soon the man in question showed up with an irritated look.

"Boy, how many times has your mother told you not to run-", Kratos started to say.

"Someone is attacking the house!! Mother's in trouble!!", his son told him as he grabbed his hand.

"If this another one of your games...", Kratos growled.

"No!! Mother needs help!!", his son pleaded.

Sensing that his son wasn't lying, he picked the boy up and ran back to the home. Feeling the earth shake beneath his feet, Kratos immediately knew something was wrong. Rushing through the barrier, he saw the carnage that the attacker had caused. Seeing his wife laying in their burning home, he started to feel his anger boil over.

"RAHHH!!!", Kratos roared as he set his son down.

Barreling towards the slime, Kratos punched it in the face sending the monster skipping across the ground. Feeling pain from the blow, the slime looked back up only to see Kratos' knee slam into it's face. Before it knew what hit it, the slime was already being grabbed by Kratos again.

"What have you done!?", Kratos shouted as he slammed the slime into a boulder, "This is my family!!!"

"Wait, I am here too-", the slime said but Kratos wasn't listening.

Having seen his wife laying in the ruined building, Kratos was only seeing red as he started pumbling the slime into the ground. After a few minutes, the slime was done being his punching bag and knocked him away into the nearby cliff face. Realizing that there was no getting through to him, the slime attempted use Predator to devour him only to have the Leviathan Axe almost pierce its core.

Standing in the ruins of their home, Kratos' wife stood burned and bloodied with anger in her eyes. It was clear she was on the verge of death, but she refused to just lay down and accept it. Rushing over to her, their son was on the verge of tears as he was only five years of age. Seeing his opportunity to exact a small amount of payback for refusing to listen to him, the slime used some Shang Tsung's magic to forcibly rip their souls out.

As the mother was already on the verge of death and the boy was sickly, the process took only moments. Pulling himself out of the rock face, Kratos got out just as his family hit the ground. Realizing that he had once again failed his family, all the anger he had tried to bury all these years bubbled back to the surface as he rushed forward to attack him as the slime tried to leave.

The slime was going to laugh at him, but stopped when it saw two weapons shoot out of the home. Watching them wrap around his forearms, the slime barely had any time to react before one of the blades cut through him barely missing his core.

"You will pay dearly...I found happiness again, and you took it from me!!!", Kratos roared boiling with rage.

Leaping at the slime, the two of them fell through the portal the slime opened as Kratos pressed the attack.

---Few Days Later, Orario---

Showing up at Stardust Garden to get Bella and Lily, I was surprised to see Ryuu, Ais, and Bella's Amazonian friend were coming with us. When I asked why, Ryuu said she needed time away from Shera. Evidently Shera was driving her crazy with all the questions and things she wanted to do. Ais had requested to come solely because she wanted to hang out with Bella and Lily, and the Amazonian...well she invited herself after begging Bella.

"I have yet to formally introduced myself, my name is Violet.", she said shaking my hand.

"A pleasure to meet you.", I said giving her a firm handshake.

Staring her in the eyes, I spoke to her telepathically.

"Lay a finger on Bella or Lily, and I will personally see to it you burn in Underworld for all eternity.", I told her, "I know you are here on Aphrodite's behalf, I have no intention of sharing a bed, table, or even room with her. Consider this your one and only warning."

Seeing sweat start to pour from her forehead, she nodded her head meekly. With that, I said we could head out immediately if they were ready to go.

"Do you have room for more?", two additional women said showing up at the front door.

Turning around I saw Aisha and another Amazonian that I knew was part of the Freya Familia. I hadn't had the opportunity to talk to her, but I knew she was a good person as she helped Freya at the Orphanage from time to time. Knowing that their appearance was no mistake, I figured this was their way of ensuring Aphrodite didn't pull something shady down there.

"Do you know them?", Lily asked me.

"Yes, this is Aisha and...it was Olivine right?", I said trying to remember based on my conversations with Freya.

"Yes, I am happy you remember me.", she stated with a smile, "Yes, I am Olivine from the Freya Familia. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

Looking at Bella for her input, I saw her eyes sparkling as she looked at them. Knowing full well she was going to try to befriend them, I could only give her a smile of approval. Telling them they could join us, the two of them looked at Violet like wolves staring at a sheep.

'Oh boy...I bet they have orders to kill her if she steps out of line.', I thought.

With our group assembled, I glanced back at the table to see how the people I saved were doing. Shera, Yasaka, and Merlin looked fine, but Tatsumaki and Kushina still looked really bad. After this trip, I would try to coax anything I could out of them so I could try to save their worlds...if there was anything left to save.

"Come on!!", Bella giggled as she tugged my arm.

"Alright, I am coming.", I chuckled as we headed out.

Feeling the stares of every male adventurer we walked towards the Dungeon, I rather enjoyed the looks they gave me. At first they would stare daggers at me, then quickly look away when they realized who I was. When we got to the entrance of the Dungeon, I pulled out magic bags for those present.

"You are giving us these?", Aisha asked, "You realize how much something like this is, right?"

"Consider it a loan while we are in the Dungeon. Put whatever you want in there for the duration of this trip, and then return them to me once you have emptied them.", I stated looking at Lily, "This is mainly so you don't have to carry a Supporter Backpack."

"Phew!!", Lily replied as she started throwing things in, "Thank you Mael, I hate carrying it!"

Giving them a few minutes to put their supplies away, I wasn't the least bit surprised to see all the food that Ais brought was Jagamarukun. Thankful I had done a lot of shopping for this trip, it was clear that people hadn't planned for fine dining. Once they had everything put away, we stepped into the Dungeon together.

As expected, the first few floors were cake walk for us. We were easily able to kill monsters by kicking them like soda cans...well I could anyways. Descending through the floors quickly, we reached Floor 17 towards the end of the day. Stopping just above the floor, I looked back at the women to see if any of the Familias had the Monster Rex on their schedule.

"Figured I'd ask before we get there, don't want to be stealing from other Familias.", I stated.

"No, no one has anything scheduled for a least a month.", Aisha replied.

"Perfect.", I remarked before continuing on.

Having not really done any fighting since we entered, as the women were the ones doing all the work, I was looking forward to the Monster Rex. It wasn't like it was going to be a problem, I was just happy to actually do something instead of being the Healer. As we got a little ways onto the floor, we ran into a group of Minotaur and Ligerfang.

"Jeez, why did it have to be twelve of them.", Lily sighed.

"It's not that big of a deal.", Aisha laughed, "Let's get-"

Swinging Rhitta, I bisected the entire group of monsters with a single swing. Watching them get reduced to a cloud of smoke, I chuckled as I used magic to pull the drops into my storage.

"Wow, I haven't seen that before.", Olivine stated.

"There is a reason them call him Aureus Puer.", Aisha told her.

"Wait...that's what they call me?", I questioned looking back at them, "Damn, I wanted Lux Solaris."

"Sunshine?", Lily remarked, "I mean...I guess that works too, but you usually wear golden armor."

"Meh, I guess that's a fair point.", I replied, "Still though, who gave me that nickname?"

"Freya, Ishtar, Loki, and Aqua.", Ryuu told me, "They decided on it at the last meeting they had."

Rubbing my forehead, I had a sneaking suspicion why they went with Golden Boy. If it didn't sound weird, they probably would have called me Aureus Anser...just because they get to try things they never would have before.

Continuing forwards, we ran into several more groups of monsters before finally running into the Monster Rex. He was a big mother fucker, easily 20-25 feet tall and looked seriously pissed off.

'I wonder who pissed in his Wheaties this morning.', I thought with a smirk, 'Well, time to give him an attitude adjustment.'