It was as if the entire world had caved in. The Black Dragon's massive, terrifying body shattered completely under the combined assault of three Gods' powers.
The oppressive darkness that had smothered the sixty-second floor was ripped away at its roots in an instant.
Even as the echoes of the explosion rolled across the distance, the sky was still littered with fragments of scales and the searing aftertaste of magic.
But the battle… was over.
Truly over.
The Black Dragon was gone—blown to pieces.
Below, the entire party stood in dead silence. No one moved, their breathing half a beat slow.
They… hadn't even processed what had just happened.
From the moment the Black Dragon appeared, to being tossed around like a toy, to getting pinned from three sides and hacked apart.
The whole thing hadn't even lasted five minutes.
It was over so fast, no one had even gotten into the rhythm of battle before the enemy ceased to exist.
And this was the Black Dragon—the hardest, most hopeless of the three Great Quests.
The calamity that had buried an entire era.
They'd thought Ryota charging out to fight it alone was outrageous enough.
But the result?
It didn't even get the chance to attack… before being instantly killed?!
Ais stared blankly at the monster that had haunted her nightmares countless times, now nothing but drifting fragments turning to black ash. Her mind went white.
"This… is over?"
No one answered. No one dared believe it was real.
It wasn't until Ryota withdrew Susanoo, the Wood Human crumbling to dust, and walked back toward the group with Madara that they snapped back to reality.
"I… I'm not dreaming, right?"
"What the hell… what just happened?"
"Lefiya, pinch me. I think I'm dizzy!"
"…"
Madara swept his gaze over the slowly fading remains, let out a derisive snort, and said:
"Just an insect."
Everyone: "…"
The battle that had been, in their hearts, a final-chapter climax… ended like this.
Under the triple assault of Ryota, Uchiha Madara, and the Wood Human, the so-called disaster had been beaten, killed, and humiliated all at once—its curtain falling like the end of some absurd farce.
And in the wake of this so-called Calamity's utter death, the darkness blanketing the sixty-second floor began to change.
Like a shattered dream, the space rippled, the night-like gloom receding.
Faint beams of white light seeped down from the heights, and visibility slowly cleared.
For the first time, the sixty-second floor's true form was revealed in full to their eyes.
And there, in the growing light, Ryota stood upon the fractured earth, gazing into the distance, eyes deep.
He turned slowly, smiling at the stunned faces behind him.
"I'll leave the rest of the exploration to you."
Everyone froze.
"Eh??"
Finn's brow furrowed, a bad premonition creeping in.
"Ryota… where are you going?"
Ryota said nothing. He only looked up at the brightening sky and exhaled.
He felt it was time to see the next world.
There was nothing left here that could make him stronger.
…
In the days that followed, Orario boiled over.
No—more precisely, the entire world of the Dungeon was in an uproar!
At first, the events of the sixty-second floor that day were not widely known.
But as adventurers trickled back to the surface, the news spread like wildfire—needing no deliberate broadcast, more like a drop of blood in water, instantly dyeing the whole city red.
"Did you hear? The Black Dragon's dead!"
"You're kidding—that's one of the Three Great Quests!"
"It's true! Completely blown to bits!"
"The Loki Familia! They're the ones who cleared it!"
"Wrong—under Ryota's lead, the Loki Familia cleared it!"
"…"
From street corners to market stalls, talk exploded overnight—shock, disbelief, then fevered excitement, and finally pure worship.
The Adventurer's Guild even rushed to issue an official statement, sealed with their crest, formally declaring the final Great Quest—"Slay the Black Dragon"—completed.
One sheet of parchment threw the world into unprecedented chaos.
The regret of the Zeus and Hera Familias' fall, the lament for the end of the Age of Heroes—shattered in an instant!
Some raised their mugs in taverns, others sang songs of heroes in the squares…
The name "Ryota" rose beyond the realm of mortals—or even Gods—becoming legend itself.
Well… he already was.
But that didn't stop the people from worshiping him with fervor and devotion.
His deeds became poetry, murals, songs.
Some adventurers even dislocated their shoulders trying to mimic his sword stances…
In short—Ryota's name now resounded across the entire world of the Dungeon.
A few days after the Dragon-Slaying Battle, in the topmost chamber of Babel Tower—
Ryota stood before the floor-to-ceiling window.
Below him, Orario roared with celebration.
The city's bell towers rang, banners hung from temples, countless adventurers reveled in the streets.
The Guild's entrance was mobbed, adventurers swarming for a glimpse of the man who had completed all three Great Quests.
But Ryota didn't care for crowds. He simply watched quietly, a faint, ambiguous smile at the corner of his lips.
Inside the room, the atmosphere was entirely different.
On the luxurious bed, besides the previous occupants—Ais, Lefiya, and Hestia—there was now another familiar figure.
Ryuu Lion.
The green-haired elf lay at the edge of the bed, having found her own "peace" here.
Hestia hugged a pillow in the corner, muttering under her breath:
"Why am I pushed to the edge again…?!"
Lefiya still looked ready to faint, pink bubbles floating in her mind as she stole glances at Ryota, face buried almost entirely in the blanket.
Ais, half-lying, half-sitting, gazed at the figure by the window, deep in thought.
"Seriously," Hestia suddenly said,
"Ryotaa, are you just going to stand there looking at the view and ignore us?"
"With the mood we've got here, why don't we do something? A hero's kiss, a victory hug, or maybe all four of us watching the moon together?"
Ryota heard the teasing from behind, the corner of his mouth lifting, but he didn't turn—only smiled.
Then, a pair of arms quietly wrapped around his waist from behind.
Ais rested her face against his back and asked:
"That golden door you mentioned—"
"Where is it?"
Ryota's gaze flickered. He had never planned to hide it from Ais and the others.
Not that he could, anyway.
The good news was—
These past few days, Ryota had been studying the reward from the fourth stage of the system's quest.
The golden door.
From its appearance and the system's description, it was clearly no ordinary teleportation ability.
It didn't lead to some floor of the Dungeon, some instance, or some spatial rift.
It led to another world—an entirely new dimension, a whole new universe.
The door wasn't fully open yet, but the system had already given him a few hints:
[Host may guide its opening and perform World Jump.]
[Permission: May bring others along.]
[Number of companions: ? (Locked)]
[Destination coordinates: ? (Undisclosed)]
In other words, this was, in the truest sense, a journey into the unknown.
And the most crucial part—Ryota could bring others along.
But how many? Would they arrive safely?
Beyond that door… was it paradise, or hell?
The system hadn't said.
Ryota lifted a hand, covering Ais's fingers where they were clasped around him, and smiled.
"The door isn't fully open yet," he said.
"But it will be soon."
He paused, tilting his head slightly to glance at the face behind him—serious in a way that felt almost out of place.
"Want to come with me?"
Ais nodded without a moment's hesitation.
"Mm."
No why, no explanations. Her answer came as naturally as all those countless times she had fought side by side with Ryota over the years.
At that moment, the other three women on the bed stirred.
Hestia sat hugging her knees, cheek resting on her legs, grumbling with clear dissatisfaction.
"Hey, hey, hey, you can't just leave a Goddess behind for something like this! I'm coming too!"
Lefiya, face crimson, stole a glance as she stammered,
"I–I can… record the magical fluctuations and ecological data of another world… that's… kind of useful…"
Ryuu said nothing, but rose from the bed, slipping on a thin robe. She stepped to Ryota's side, her gaze speaking for her with absolute clarity—
You're bringing me too.
Ryota narrowed his eyes slightly, turning his gaze back out to the streets of Orario, alive with celebration.
In the distance, the city roared. The festivities had yet to die down.
The people sang of heroes, the taverns cried out his name, the Guild rewrote the annals of history.
But the man who had truly changed everything was already gone from their sight.
He simply stood there, watching the horizon, watching the sky, waiting for the next stop that belonged to him.
"Rest for two more days," he said.
"Then"
"We'll go see it together."
…
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
Outside, the world raged with excitement, but the top floor of Babel Tower remained oddly quiet.
Ryota, Ais, Lefiya, Hestia, and Ryuu never stepped beyond the door.
They simply "fought" within, over and over, and when exhausted, sat together by the window, staring at the shifting daylight in silence.
Time didn't slow in the presence of glory, nor did it pause in anticipation of the coming adventure.
When the sun rose for the third time, heralding a new day, Ryota finally stood, pulling on that familiar coat.
He glanced back at the four women in the room and smiled faintly.
"Time to go."
The five of them left Babel Tower.
As usual, they passed through familiar streets, down quiet alleys untouched by crowds, heading toward Twilight Manor.
By the time they arrived, the courtyard was already full.
Loki—the very same Goddess who had first met Ryota upon his arrival in this world—was waving enthusiastically.
The moment she caught sight of Ais's slightly flushed face, a few thick black lines appeared on the prankster Goddess's brow.
"Well, well! The little Goddess showed up too?"
"This Goddess is here as a favor to you, you flat-chested hag!"
"You looking for a fight, shorty?!"
"…."
Behind them, the Big Three, Bete, the Amazonian sisters, and the rest of the Loki Familia's main force were all present.
Not far off, Hephaestus's red hair blazed in the sunlight, her queenly aura as forceful as ever, the corner of her lips curved in an almost-hidden smile.
Arms folded, she glanced at Ryota and teased,
"Finally decided to come down from the tower?"
On the other side, the rarely-seen Hermes sat on the steps, idly spinning his feathered cap in hand.
"I hear you're leaving," he said. "No way I'd miss a send-off like this."
Clearly, they had all received Ryota's message.
Of course, what he'd told them was simply that he'd discovered a new place through the power in his body and planned to check it out.
He hadn't mentioned the system.
Ryota's eyes swept over the crowd—familiar faces, comrades who had fought beside him, Gods who had quietly supported him all along.
He smiled and waved.
"Why the grim faces? I'm not going off to die."
At those words, the lively, half-joking mood evaporated in an instant.
No one spoke.
Because none of them knew where Ryota was going, or if he would return safely.
There was no set date for his return, no promise of the future, not even a sure "see you next time."
They understood. And because they understood, they stayed silent.
It wasn't "grim." It was genuine reluctance to let go.
Ryota opened his mouth, intending to say something to lighten the mood.
But just as he was about to throw out a line like "I'll buy you all drinks when I get back," a sudden thought struck him.
Wait.
The system… had never once said anything about whether he could come back.
Sure, his gut told him he'd definitely return.
But that was just—instinct.
No proof. No hint.
The road home might very well lie hidden behind that still-unopened golden door.
He fell silent for a moment.
Then, Ryota said nothing more.
He simply raised his hand, focusing his will.
"O..Open."
In the next instant, golden light surged skyward in the center of Twilight Manor's courtyard.
All eyes rose, drawn irresistibly to the radiance.
In the heart of that golden pillar, a slowly rotating portal began to take shape.
It stood three meters high, woven from countless divine runes and seals, its edges inlaid with symbols like distant stars—an ancient pass for something beyond comprehension.
When the door fully formed, the entire courtyard fell into a moment of breathless silence.
And the instant Ryota glimpsed the world beyond, his pupils contracted sharply.
"…The hell—why is it this place?!"