"We're close now."
Artemis broke the suffocating silence, her voice sounding melancholic among the corridors of pulsating flesh.
"Then we should hurry." Charlie replied briefly. He walked ahead with the Holy Sword Severian glowing dimly.
He wanted all this to end quickly.
*RUMBLE!*
Suddenly, the flesh walls around them churned violently. From the ceiling, something resembling giant buds opened with disgusting wet sounds, and from within fell—or more accurately, were born—scorpion monsters with glossy black shells and dangerous stingers.
"Those are all... eggs?" Bell exclaimed in a horrified tone.
Not just one, the buds burst in a chain reaction. Within seconds, the group was surrounded by dozens of newly born scorpion monsters, each with sharp pincers ready to tear prey.
Bell and Welf immediately drew their weapons, taking combat positions, while the gods and goddesses instinctively huddled close to Aishia. They were fully aware that without Arcanum, they were easy targets.
"Save your stamina, Bell. You'll need it later. Let me handle them."
"But—"
*WHOOSH!*
Before Bell could complete his refusal, Charlie's silhouette had already vanished from where he stood.
Not literally disappeared. His movement speed was so high it exceeded naked eye perception.
Although Charlie's acceleration hadn't reached Second Cosmic Velocity which he could achieve when flying, it was already in the supersonic+ range thanks to all his EX-rank parameters from Level 1 through Level 5 in his current Level 6 process.
*SWOOSH!* *SWOOSH!* *SWOOSH!*
The sound of splitting wind was followed by a series of horrifying flesh-cutting sounds and the sharp sound of a blade piercing shells.
*PU-CHI!* *PU-CHI!* *PU-CHI!*
The scorpion monsters didn't even have time to react. They had just been 'born' into the world, and in the next few seconds, they were already dead, split in two or destroyed by a single slash of the deadly Holy Sword Severian.
When Charlie reappeared beside Artemis, right in front of their group, he looked completely undisturbed. His breathing remained stable, not a single drop of sweat on his forehead. His sword was clean, as if it hadn't just slaughtered dozens of monsters.
"A-Amazing...!!! I couldn't even see what Charlie-san did! So this is the power of Level 6?!" Bell's eyes sparkled with admiration and adoration, as if witnessing a living legend.
"Solo Leveling, huh... He might be stronger than Cyclops, right?" Welf muttered, still stunned.
The 'Cyclops' he meant wasn't a monster, but rather the title of Hephaestus Familia's captain, Tsubaki Collbrande, a highly respected Level 5.
Before joining Hestia Familia, Welf came from Hephaestus Familia. He left Hephaestus Familia due to matters related to his life principles and personal goals.
Welf had a grand ambition to become a blacksmith capable of forging weapons equal to or even surpassing Goddess Hephaestus's works without relying on his family's Magic Sword ability that he hated. By being outside the goddess's direct supervision, he felt he could prove his abilities independently.
And his main reason was that Welf loved Hephaestus and wanted to become a man worthy of standing beside her. Hephaestus gave the condition that if Welf wanted her to see him as a man (not just a foster child), Welf had to be able to make a weapon that could impress her as a fellow blacksmith.
(Monster... Phew~ thank goodness I failed to deceive him back then. Just thinking about it makes me shudder.) Lili became even more afraid of Charlie, recalling her failed attempt to deceive that man.
*CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!*
"Bravo! You're the fastest adventurer I've ever seen, Charlie! I'm certain no one else in this world is faster than you!" Hermes applauded with praise.
What he didn't know was that wasn't Charlie's actual full speed.
"I believe someday my Bell will be able to do the same! No! He'll definitely surpass it!" Hestia puffed out her chest, not too impressed.
In her eyes, no matter how amazing anyone else was, Bell would always be most remarkable!
"Hera is truly fortunate..." There was a faint tone of envy in Astraea's voice.
Aishia: "😐"
She who knew everything about Charlie chose to remain silent without comment.
"Let's continue!" Artemis urged once more.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
The group successfully climbed to the source of the screaming without encountering further resistance, which led them to a large circular chamber. Inside, the sight awaiting them was equally terrifying and frightening.
In the center of a hole was a large circular platform where stood a giant black creature. A monster never seen before by Bell and the others, some kind of giant scorpion, with an upper body vaguely resembling a human and several arms ending in pincers. Without a face, but only one blood-red eye, completing the creature's appearance which was equally horrifying and frightening.
Flesh channels connected its body to strange matter contaminating the temple walls, pulsating to the rhythm of a disgusting sound, so there was almost no doubt it was behind this phenomenon.
Some kind of terrifying energy radiated from the monster's shell and rose in clumps through a hole in the ceiling facing the night sky... where a strange crescent moon had replaced it.
"Is that... Antares?" Bell asked in the suffocating silence.
"RAWRRRRR—!!!"
Upon detecting the intruders' presence, Antares released a deafening roar, triggering a shockwave that forced everyone to step back.
Artemis suddenly fell to her knees clutching her chest in pain.
"Artemis-sama!" Bell rushed to support her.
"Orion... please... kill it..." Artemis whispered weakly.
Before Bell could ask further, Antares's shell body began to open, revealing a strange crystal embedded within it.
And that was when the true horror was revealed.
Everyone—humans and gods alike—froze in indescribable horror.
Hermes looked grim and silent, apparently having known this truth for a long time.
Hestia nearly cried. Undoubtedly, she had understood what happened long ago, but seeing it with her own eyes made the horror feel real.
As for Astraea, she was truly shocked. She understood something strange was happening, but this... such a perversion, a desecration of divinity...
"How is it possible... Artemis-sama?" Bell slowly realized what he was seeing.
Because that was the horror awaiting them. The crystal embedded in Antares's body contained someone inside it. And it was impossible not to recognize, because it was... Artemis herself.
This raised many questions, starting with the identity of the goddess behind this journey, but they had no time to debate it, as Antares released another roar.
"RAWRRRRR—!!!"
*ZING!*
The crystal in its body shone increasingly bright. A beam of dense black energy shot from its body upward, piercing the hole in the ceiling and striking the strange crescent moon in the sky.
And then, chaos and destruction began.
Death from the sky—arrows of pure divine light capable of destroying the earth itself—began gathering above the crescent moon now shining with deadly light.
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