Goddess Astrea was clearly prepared.
Though still wearing her everyday blue-and-white long dress, she had already donned a dark cloak, pulling the hood over her head to conceal her stunningly beautiful face.
Of course, the most important thing was that the goddess had equipped her silver longsword, the [Blade of Justice] capable of judging even gods.
"Let's go."
The goddess said as she walked over, her demeanor leaving no room for refusal.
Isagi recalled the time in Solingen, when they lived on the edge of the forest outside the city. They would occasionally encounter monsters, which naturally required him and Cecil to handle them. Each time, the goddess would also join them with her weapon.
Whether it was out of remorse or concern.
Astrea wanted to do more for her Familia's children.
Not just everyday housework.
After all, the Goddess of Justice and Judgment was no "gentle" figure.
Going after Dark Familias, especially like before, sending them into the Dungeon where they couldn't return to Tenkai.
Isagi and Ryuu were doing extremely dangerous things.
Thus, Astrea felt she must help.
Some matters were hard for the children alone to "handle," but with a god accompanying them, it would be much easier and more convenient...
...
As expected, a light rain fell in the late night.
Drizzling.
Carried by the muggy breeze unique to midsummer, it inevitably made one's mood restless.
The Soma Familia's base was not far from Daedalus Street.
The large longhouse was noisy inside, with Magic Stone lamps illuminating the spacious courtyard.
There were many adventurers in the house.
Especially recently, as the Soma Familia was expanding, their captain [Guardian of the Wine] Zanis Lustra had gathered up all the city's thugs and ruffians regardless of background.
In a short time, they had formed a force that couldn't be ignored—
As if.
They could only intimidate ordinary city residents and novice adventurers.
Lv. 1 small fry; no matter how many gathered, they were still small fry.
In the night rain, a fierce roar interrupted the noisy "party" inside the house. Accompanied by the courtyard gate shattering and flying apart, along with shouts of "Enemy attack!", the Soma Familia adventurers on guard rang the large bell on the sentry post.
What followed was even more chaotic footsteps and roars.
"Which blind bastard!"
"Who is it?!"
"How come there's only one..."
Could it be Gale?
The dozens or hundreds of adventurers who had just rushed out of the house felt a chill in their hearts. Seeing that the attacker in the night rain wasn't blonde, they breathed a sigh of relief and were about to shout again, only to realize something was still off!
What the hell, that massive weapon...
The giant spear, far exceeding "normal" size—like something only a giant would use—was now casually shouldered by the cloaked youth and swung around.
Just one strike, and along with the courtyard wall, the house, and the adventurers before him, everything was utterly destroyed.
No one could withstand its edge head-on; even just being grazed by the sword wind was enough to send them tumbling and flying backward.
At the same time, thunder crashed.
[Ba's Thunder]!
The upgraded "Land of Reeds" character card brought a new ability with a simple effect: imbuing weapons with "lightning attribute" and causing wide-area lightning damage upon swinging.
Thus, thunder rolled!
Mixed with screams, chaos, and terror, it drowned everything.
And among them, someone actually dared to counterattack.
"You damn bastard!"
From behind the distant crowd, the noisy guy pulled out his "trump card," a golden magic sword.
"Die!!"
Dazzling light flashed again, this time turning into lightning serpents surging toward the youth.
Magic swords were very special "weapons."
They could be seen as carriers of magic; no chant or magic filling needed—just swing them, and even ordinary people could instantly release powerful magic attacks, though with usage limits.
And Isagi's response was—
[Thunder Return].
True to its name, a secret technique that, in mid-leap, uses the weapon to absorb lightning strikes and return them.
The youth leaped high, swinging the giant spear again. Using the method recorded in [Ba's Thunder], he coated the surging lightning power onto the weapon once more, then sent it back.
In the crowd.
Screams and thunder exploded simultaneously again.
From start to now, merely ten seconds, and Isagi had only swung his weapon twice, nearly turning half the Soma Familia into ruins.
Astrea, watching from afar, gently rubbed her forehead again.
In just a few months since coming to the city, the youth had changed too much.
The goddess couldn't help recalling how, back in Solingen, her own Familia child was always knocked flat by her sword hilt, unable to stand.
Isagi was a sore loser.
So back then, the youth would always seriously reflect afterward, pondering where he went wrong to lose so badly.
Though unspoken, Astrea could feel the youth constantly thinking about how to defeat her.
Tch.
This guy really doesn't respect gods at all!
Just wondering if now...
No, the current Isagi was worlds apart from back then—not just in skill, but stats alone were heaven and earth.
Astrea recalled the youth's final panel at this upgrade.
[Isagi:
Level: LV3
Strength: SSS 1305
Endurance: SSS 1395
Dexterity: SS 1225
Agility: SS 1271
Magic: SS 1042...]
Compared to before, much progress; next upgrade, stats might break "1400"?
Still "SSS"?
Just thinking made her head ache. High-level adventurers already crushed low-level ones; moreover, current Isagi wasn't a normal "high-level adventurer."
The goddess shook her head, then walked into the nearly half-destroyed courtyard.
Amid the groans everywhere.
Astrea looked up at a room high in the longhouse still lit, where divine presence clearly emanated—obviously Soma inside.
But from start to end, this Wine God never came to the window to glance at his Familia's situation.
As rumored.
Soma had completely abandoned managing his Familia, which was wrong, especially since it bred sin; he needed to take responsibility even more.
"Let's go, in the underground wine cellar."
Isagi acted swiftly.
He casually grabbed a few already terrified but still speaking guys, asking their captain's location.
Action had to be quick, lest Ganesha Familia's guards arrive.
Isagi led, stowing the giant weapon, switching to a longsword, then entering the wine cellar via the entrance, only to find it much larger inside.
There were even temporary cells.
From one, Isagi spotted a pitiful little girl, unsure why she was locked there.
Zanis Lustra, having received the news, was just about to flee when he spotted the black-cloaked youth approaching.
"Immobilize."
Knowing the guy would run.
Isagi, having switched character cards ahead, used the new "Puppet Kingdom" spell.
Currently only "Immobilize" and "Binding Charm" available, but sufficient.
Frankly.
Isagi even felt Immobilize alone was enough.
In an instant, golden light enveloped Zanis, a brilliant golden "Immobilize" character appearing above his head.
The man's body froze completely.
For a moment, Zanis wondered if time had stopped, leaving him to watch helplessly as the youth approached calmly and punched him.
Bang!
Golden light shattered, along with the man's hoarse scream as he clutched his stomach, collapsing and retching nonstop.
"I ask, you answer."
Isagi said, directly questioning.
"Does Soma Familia have ties to Dark Familias?"
"N-no... no... urgh..."
"Lying."
The goddess's voice came from nearby.
Gods could detect lies from mortals below—a very useful ability, especially now.
Since "no" was false, "yes" was true.
Thus.
Isagi pondered three seconds, then dragged the collapsed man back to his office.
Zanis outwardly looked like a bespectacled, quite refined guy.
But in this cellar-deep room only he could enter, it was filled with Soma Divine Wine he used to control others.
Just one cup.
Most who tasted the Divine Wine would obey him.
"Indeed very useful."
So Isagi directly opened a jar, pouring it into Zanis's mouth.
Soon.
The man rolling on the ground, begging for another sip of Divine Wine, spilled everything he knew.
Soma's Divine Wine was terrifying too.
Though after sobering, no bodily harm from drinking, nor the current craving.
But drink again, and back to this state.
Speaking of.
Wonder if it works on monsters... No, Divine Wine contains divine power, can't bring into Dungeon; sensing it causes severe consequences.
Guild records: each time Dungeon senses divine power, spawns powerful "Black Monsters," one reason gods banned from Dungeon.
Wait, in a sense.
Isn't this a "Deep Abyss Invitation"?! Or "Rematch" mode!!
After all, Black Monsters drop materials too, rare ones!
Thinking so.
Isagi quickly grabbed several more jars, stuffing them all into his cloak. Before leaving, he carried several in hands, even having Goddess Astrea take some.
Even after pondering, he pulled out the space-hogging "giant spear" from the cloak, switched cards to disassemble it.
Discarding the ordinary iron spear as "handle," held the greatsword, then stuffed more Divine Wine jars inside.
Might be useful later... No... definitely will be!!
Watching the youth's actions.
Astrea felt inexplicably heavy-hearted for some reason.
This child.
After returning home, she really needed to find a chance to properly talk and teach him...
___
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