"Seriously? What was Hestia thinking? If she released her Arcanum seal on the surface, it might still be tolerable. But inside the Dungeon?!"
Hermes had completely lost his usual carefree demeanor. His face, usually adorned with a sly smile, was now filled with anxiety.
This was truly beyond all his expectations.
He had planned for countless scenarios, but never imagined Hestia would do something so... reckless and foolish.
Even a genius like him failed to anticipate the actions of a fool.
Although there was a rule forbidding gods from using Arcanum in the Lower World, it wasn't absolute. As long as its use didn't significantly impact the Lower World, it could be loosely tolerated.
What troubled Hermes most, however, was the location. Hestia had used her Arcanum inside the Dungeon!
"Hermes-sama, isn't this bad?" Asfi asked.
"Haaa..." Hermes sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. "All we can do now is hope no serious consequences arise."
Knowing how deeply the Dungeon hated gods, Hermes was well aware that the chance of nothing happening was extremely slim.
Suddenly, Hermes' body trembled. His eyes widened, fixated on something—or someone—in the distance.
"Hah?"
"What is it, Hermes-sama?" Asfi asked, confused.
This was the first time she had ever seen Hermes so shocked that he seemed to lose his words.
"No. It must've been my imagination." Hermes replied quickly, trying to conceal the turmoil within. But his unsettled expression failed to convince Asfi.
Asfi was certain the other party was hiding something, but she knew better than to press further at this moment.
(That just now... was that divinity?) Hermes' thoughts raced.
(Though faint, almost illusory, I'm certain I didn't imagine it.)
For just an instant—so brief it could've been dismissed as a hallucination—he had sensed an unmistakable divine aura emanating from Charlie's body.
Clearly, it disturbed him. Hermes was confident his perception hadn't deceived him.
"How can a mere mortal possess a divine aura? Charlie Avalon... who exactly are you?"
Hermes' interest had now shifted dramatically.
On one hand, there was Bell Cranel—the prophesied Last Hero destined to save the world.
On the other, there was Charlie Avalon—a mysterious mortal who might—just might—carry divinity within him.
It didn't take much thought to decide which option was more intriguing.
Remember, the reason gods descended to the Lower World was for entertainment, for joy, to alleviate their eternal boredom. Hermes was no exception.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
A few moments later, the tension began to ease. With slightly red eyes, Hestia tightly embraced Bell before turning to the rescuers.
"I'm sorry, Takemikazuchi Familia and Hera Familia, I caused you trouble."
Since she didn't remember all their names, she addressed them by their Familia.
"Not at all, Hestia-sama." Mikoto honestly objected. "We didn't do anything. It was Charlie-dono who defeated those troublemakers."
Hearing this, Charlie casually waved his hand. "Don't say that. Even without me, it wouldn't have been hard for you to beat such low-level thugs."
"Thank you all for caring so much about Bell." Hestia continued, now calmer. "I truly appreciate it."
A gentle breeze blew through the forest, as if to sweep away the last remnants of tension. Sincere smiles began to appear on the faces of everyone present.
"...?"
His brows furrowed. His intuition warned him that something terrible was about to happen. Then, Charlie remembered the one possible issue that could arise.
"Anyway, how should we—" Hestia began to speak, but her sentence was cut short.
*BOOM!*
The ground suddenly shook violently, like an earthquake. No—more accurately, the entire 18th Floor trembled.
"An earthquake?"
"No, this is..."
"The Dungeon is shaking?"
Chigusa, Mikoto, and Ouka exchanged words with wide eyes, frozen as they stared at the trembling earth.
"Haaa... This is exactly why I avoid getting involved with protagonists. They're a magnet for trouble."
Coincidentally, Bell overheard those words and stared at Charlie, confused and not understanding their meaning.
Hermes' worst fear had come true. An Irregular—an anomaly beyond the Dungeon's norms—was about to occur. This was its warning sign.
And then, something happened above.
A massive shadow swept over the area, blocking the pseudo-sunlight from the ceiling crystals.
"... What is that?"
The words escaped Welf's lips as he looked up.
The entire ceiling of the 18th Floor was covered in millions of crystals, each providing light—and each now contained something within. Something large was moving.
The object struck from inside.
*CRACK!*
A loud cracking sound echoed, and thick, spiderweb-like fractures began spreading across the surface of the largest crystal.
"A monster?!" someone shouted.
"That's impossible! This is a safe zone!" another replied, voice filled with panic.
Unsurprisingly, the adventurers, who always considered the 18th Floor a safe haven, panicked as their long-held understanding crumbled.
Crystal shards began to fall, sparkling like a rain of diamonds as they showered the ground.
*CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!*
The fractures spread wider, and the black shape within became clearer—a giant figure growing larger, punching and kicking from within, trying to free itself.
"Oh no... This can't be. It's my fault."
Her face turned deathly pale. Hestia stared blankly at the ceiling, realizing that her use of Arcanum had triggered this disaster.
*BOOM!*
A thunderous explosion shook the entire floor. The giant crystal at the center of the ceiling shattered completely.
From the scattered wreckage, a horrifying monster's face emerged. Shaped like a distorted lotus flower, forcibly blooming open. It was a colossal head, detached from a body, glaring down with enormous eyes full of hatred.
But it wasn't just a severed head. Shoulders and chest followed, bursting through the remaining crystals in a new explosion that sent deadly shards flying in all directions. The monster forced its colossal body out, and with its jaws wide open, it unleashed a soul-shaking roar.
"OOOOOOHHHHH!!!"
The newborn Goliath's roar made the air vibrate. This was no ordinary Goliath from Floor 17; this was a larger, darker, more vicious version, unnaturally born at the heart of a place that should have been safe.
*BAM!*
With its massive fist, it smashed the remaining crystals trapping it. Its pillar-like legs emerged, and gravity took over.
Like a black meteor, the giant monster fell from the sky, surrounded by a deadly rain of crystal shards. It landed with an earth-shattering impact directly on top of the Central Tree of Floor 18.
*BOOOOM!*
The resulting shockwave was deafening. The roots of the giant tree were shattered beneath the monster's weight. The colossal trunk bent and partially sank into the ground from the impact.
The ceiling was gone. The crystal that supplied the most light to Floor 18—the one just destroyed by the Goliath—had lost its glow. A shroud of darkness fell over Floor 18. The remaining crystal fragments glimmered faintly amid a sea of blue crystals.
An unnatural night with a full moon had occurred!
And in the midst of that darkness stood an Irregular Monster Rex that should not exist here—The Black Goliath.