Chapter 12: Chapter 12
Huff, huff, puff
He was panting as he ran towards his destination and his heart was accelerated because of the situation he was in, a while ago.
He went to the dungeon, like any normal day but after a while, there was another dungeon outbreak. He hadn't anticipated that there was going to be one. He and other adventurers almost died in the process of it. Luckily, this time there were more high-level adventurers than the last time. The Loki familia had returned from their expedition already so they reacted quickly and helped in containing the crazed monsters.
He was one of the first adventurers rescued as he was only on the third floor of the dungeon. The sword princess had saved them on time as they were about to be killed by the insane amount of kobolds, goblins, and ginormous lizards.
His accelerated heart was because he fell in love with her. More like he fell in love as he saw how she easily slew the monsters that were about to kill them. His grandfather always talked about how he should enter the dungeons to save beautiful girls that were in trouble so he would look like the heroes in the stories he read. But it seemed that it was him that was saved and he fell in love with his hero... heroine.
His heart was also accelerated due to the near-death experience he had. Although a while had passed he still couldn't believe he almost died. Even in the first outbreak that happened, he wasn't in a dangerous situation like he was in this time. His heart was also accelerated as on the way here he passed by the guild where he managed to talk to Eina a little bit, and she told him that girls were attacked by strong men. So he was more determined now to become strong.
He was already determined since the first outbreak but he felt that his determination was doubled.
But on the way to his destination, he saw people looking at the sky as they had a mortified expression on their faces. He didn't know why at first but he quickly became aware of it as he felt a grand wave of magic coming from the sky. He didn't know why he hadn't felt it before the normal people but maybe it was because he was in deep thoughts.
What he saw and felt, quickly made his accelerated heart come to a stop. A very fast projectile was falling with a speed his eyes barely kept up with. Even though it was far in the sky it was moving so fast that it looked like it disappeared while moving. The magical power it contained was an insane amount as he felt it even from here, and even though he wasn't a mage that was sensible to mana.
He felt delusional, As a while ago he was thinking about getting strong and all but it looked like he was about to die.
Time slowed to a crawl as his blood went cold. He tried shouting but his voice didn't come out as he wanted. His vision faltered as he just escaped the jaws of death to be confronted by it again. His moving feet stopped instantly. He reprimanded his useless legs to move but they didn't follow his orders as he wanted. He wanted to escape, to run away to a faraway place where staying alive was guaranteed. His eyes met the eyes of another adventurer and all he saw was despair.
The eyes of the adventurer held strong despair and signs that it had lost all hope of living. He wondered if his eyes were like that too.
He saw that every second the projectile came closer and closer to the city and his hopes of living kept dwindling like fire in midst of a storm.
The only thing that moved to his will were his eyes, With that, he saw that adventurers, gods, humans, and demihumans closed their eyes as if resigning their lives without putting any resistance.
He too felt that the fire of hope in his heart was already coming to an end so he willed his eyes to close... Slowly he too was accepting his death without being able to do anything to change his fate.
"...!?" The hopes in his heart quickly rekindle again.
He saw various forms of magic attacks, coming from all over Orario, being directed at the projectile.
Boom
A grand and extremely beautiful radiance was made in the sky as all the magic projectiles hit the incoming projectile and exploded. The whole city began to shake because of the colossal shockwaves caused by the explosions.
His heart sank in despair again as he saw that the projectile was nonchalantly moving forward as if nothing had happened. Its speed didn't even reduce a little bit when all the magic attacks were thrown at it. it remained unmoved as its landing destination also didn't change even by a centimeter.
His hope was again rekindled when he saw more manifestations of magic attacks directed at it. He also saw that there were a lot of barriers that were below it. Marking the route where it would be falling.
And other sets of grand explosions happened, just to shake the entire city again, But it was to no avail as the projectile didn't even change its direction nor was it slowed down. The barriers that were in place were destroyed without difficulty whatsoever. The barriers looked as fragile as paper when the projectile hit it, as they were destroyed without being able to stop it on its track. Barriers after barriers were ripped apart as soon as the projectile touched them.
It was as if some sort of evil deity was playing with his feelings. At one moment the hope in his heart was reanimated and in another, it was mercilessly destroyed. He didn't know what to think of, on one hand, he had a strong desire to live on so he held any little hope left, Tightly without wanting to let go. But on the other hand, he saw the number of magic attacks and barriers that were thrown at it but all were turned to shreds in no time.
The scene before him was getting blurry. Tears were coming out of his eyes, he felt the world wavered as he did his best to keep his eyes open. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his now responsive hands, trying his best not to cry.
His breathing was ragged, His head felt like it was being smashed to pieces. The pressure his head was receiving was as if he was thousands of kilometers down the ocean, It was a horrible feeling.
Something hot was surging up from inside him, more specifically from his stomach to his throat. He placed all his willpower in clenching his teeth but he didn't have enough willpower as he felt that he was parting with the body fluids from his body.
"Ugghhh!"
He began to vomit right there and then as he fell knees down. He had tried his best, He truly had tried his best not to commit this disgraceful act before dying.
While kneeling he saw some people appearing suddenly out of nowhere and putting barriers in the place but he thought it was all for naught as previous people from all over Orario had already tried but miserably failed to stop the projectile from falling.
He closed his eyes as he saw that the projectile was already meters from the ground. This was the worst feeling he had experienced, As it felt like an eternity but in truth, it all had happened instantly.
His hope vanished as he closed his eyes...
He was so mentally exhausted that his brain shut down the moment that he closed his eyes, so he couldn't look at what had happened. This moment was later counted as a bunch of heroes saving the city from total demise.
Later on, he would be so disappointed that it all had happened before him but he couldn't even see the historic moment with his own eyes all because of his weakness.
...
Somewhere in a room in Orario, a goddess was looking at what was happening throughout the city.
She saw that the boy she was looking at, was in danger of dying. But she didn't worry as she already had people protecting him from the shadow in case of something like this. Although they would only come out if he was in serious danger, like being critically hurt and being in his last breathe. She commanded it like that because she wanted the boy to grow stronger so his soul shined brighter and brighter.
The first time she saw the boy was when he was fighting against the monsters here on the surface, in the first outbreak that happened. The moment she laid eyes to his soul she was absolutely mesmerized.
She became obsessed with him because of the color of his soul, which she had never seen before.
The boy's soul was transparent a color that signaled he was pure and innocent, the soul also had a sign that the person had great potential in the future.
Every moment that passed as he fought for his life, his soul shined brighter and the more she saw how it shined brighter it brought her to ecstasy.
She wanted him and if he were to die she would follow his soul to heaven. Although she wouldn't let the child die easily as she still wanted to see more of him here in the lower world.
But it seemed that she jinxed herself as she felt the astronomical large amount of mana coming down from the sky.
After sensing it, she immediately commanded her children to do their best to stop the incoming projectile.
"Milady, the destruction of this city will be inevitable, Even if the whole Orario united together to stop the projectile they wouldn't be able to."
A voice behind her said, and she knew that was the truth as the power she felt was something that didn't belong to the lower world. It was more like the kind of energy that the heavens radiated when the gods used their power.
"But, if the new Familia that came is the level they reported then maybe they can change the projectile to another direction. And if the information they gave is false then it matters not as the city would be destroyed."
Freya then began to think about the God that recently came to the city. They caused a commotion throughout the city. Gods were intrigued hearing about the Gods' children level. She said she would investigate them when she had time but she was busy seeing her new prey.
she saw that the projectile was already meters away from the ground but she didn't panic as all of them would return to heaven where she would capture the soul she wanted.
The Loki Familia had already returned from the dungeon as the outbreak was already stopped. They were all busy doing their report, when Finn, the captain of the Loki familia, came running outside of the building.
"!?" surprise and fear came crashing onto him as he felt extreme danger. His thumb that always shook when something bad was going to happen, warned him about imminent threats, with the pain increasing in proportion to the level of the threat, and allowed him to prepare countermeasures against them, broke amid danger sense. This hadn't ever happened to Finn.
His body was sweating heavily as he sensed the impending danger. He didn't know what was making his danger alarm go off but knew it was something bad, Extremely bad so he quickly ordered all members to get ready for something big.
"Riveria-sama, Riveria-sama!" Finn heard someone shouting Riveria's name.
He then saw the visage of Riveria. What he saw wasn't the Riveria he knew though. Her face was painted in despair and horror. She looked like a scared child, her self of being looked very fragile, and if someone that knew how she usually was would be shocked how defenseless and fragile she was at the moment.
But it looked that she wasn't the only one like that as all the elves looked terrorized at something. Even the beast people in his Familia looked as if they had gone crazy. Their instincts were telling them that this was their end and faced with such reality they gave in despair or went insane.
It was Finn's pride that was barely keeping his rationality as he also sensed the incoming danger.
He had already located the cause of the danger. It was a projectile that was falling from the heavens at lightning speed.
"Riveria, Bete snap out of it." He slapped Riveria and punched Bete in his guts.
"Finn... It's pointless... It's all pointless! Do you think we can stop that!? I can sense mana better than you, so I know it! we can't do anything about it, Our futile resistance will not change anything!" It was his first time seeing the calm and composed elf acting hysterical like this. Even when they were in danger of being wiped out she didn't show this type of behavior. Although comparing the situations he understood that they had never been on this point, as even his finger broke demonstrating the danger they were.
But still, it was unbecoming of a high elf and the vice-captain of the Loki Familia to act like that.
Slap
"Riveria, I said calm down, It is unbecoming of you, a high elf and the vice-captain of this Familia to act like that! What type of example are you giving to the members. You are just lowering down our morale, so snap out of it." Finn slapped and reprimanded Riveria for her unsightly behavior.
He had his title 'braver' and he would live to it even at the end of time. So he could not show even the slightest bit of unsightly behavior.
It was until she received the second slap and got reprimanded that she snapped out of her hysteria.
"I'm sorry Finn, It's just that the amount of mana radiating from the projectile is something I have never felt or heard of," Riveria said as she looked calm and composed again, it was a quick change that even surprised Finn for a moment.
"Riveria, quickly gather all the mages and intercept the projectile with your magic. Also, Gareth, gather all the shielders who have a high defense to help you to protect Loki-sama. And..." Finn quickly began giving orders to the members of the Familia. One by one they gathered in the position they were given as they did what they were told.
A barrage of magic attacks was directed at the incoming projectile but it looked that they weren't the only ones doing their best to survive as even more barrages of magic were directed at the projectile.
"Riveria! Try making a magic barrier. Make it right below the projectile."
BBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
The earth shook as the magic attacks exploded as soon as they hit the projectile.
Most of the magic attacks didn't hit the target but those that did set off the ones that didn't by the explosions.
{Dance around spirit of the atmosphere, lord of light. Vow with the guardians of the forest, hear me, and envelope us with the songs of the earth. let them surround us, life of the forest, to become a barrier. please protect us, My name is known as Alf, "Via Sheilheim"!}
A green inverted dome of light appeared in the air. Right where the projectile was falling.
After Riveria's barrier, more barriers began appearing right below her's.
Her barrier that had protected them from different kinds of powerful attacks was immediately shattered as the projectile touched it. It wasn't only hers though as the other barriers shattered easily.
It seemed that they already knew it would be shattered as new amounts of surging mana were felt all over Orario.
It seemed that the mages all over Orario finished chanting at the same time and it interconnected in a single chant. It was something very historic that would have the chance to pass from generation to generation as a legendary moment.
All the chants connected making the barrier something that even the gods had never seen.
A small flat circle appeared in the sky, its color was very dark showing what happened after several forms of magic got mixed.
The circle was small that one would doubt its durability but its defense surpassed everything known to man.
Riveria and all the mages of Orario fell at the moment they finished casting the spell. They were "mind down" as they gave every last drop of their mana to cast the spell.
Finn was very surprised seeing the great woman known as "Nine Hell" fall to something known as mind down.
Finn's broken finger kept tingling even as the barrier was put in place. It seemed that not even the barrier that depleted all the mages of their mana would be able to stop the incoming projectile.
CRACK!,
Finn saw that the strongest barrier ever created was shattered in an instant.
'Was all his hard work in vain? How many years had passed since he had been working hard just to become the beacon of hope for his race? Was it all gonna be destroyed like this? was this how it would end? what would happen to the future Pallums that were cowards? Were they going to be enslaved again?' If he had known that something like this would happen, then he would have preferred to live his life to the best But it seemed that one could not return to the past. And was he really going to abandon his dreams that he pursued all his life like that?'
'Hell no!' He would do his best even when dying. How could he die without doing something?
AARRGHH!
He made a loud battle cry and his eyes became bloodshot as he shouted. His shout was enhanced by [commands howl] so it was heard all over the place. It was a cry that shook the very souls of those who had already given up.
He grabbed his spear firmly using his fingers by grabbing the shaft while his thumbs rode at the bottom. He aimed at the projectile while holding the spear close to his ear.
"Hah," He let out a sigh as he was nervous not wanting to miss. It was his first time throwing his lance at a moving target with incredible speed.
"let me give it my all. [Hell finegas] [Tir Na Nogg]" He used his two magics at the same time, using every bit of strength in this throw.
[Hell Finegas] massively strengthened all of Finn's abilities at the cost of proper judgment due to a heavy increase in the desire to live. As a high Level 6, his magic boost was powerful enough to grant him the power of a Level 7. The other ability he used was [Tir Na Nog] throwing magic. It added Finn's levels and all ability totals to his magic power during use. It could only be used once every 24 hours.
He also had a skill named [Pallum spirit] that boosted the effects of magic and skills in the face of adversity. Using all of his abilities skills and magic, he felt that his body would burst open just by holding the insane amount of magic. He aimed and threw the spear with all his strength.
Bang,
The spear made a long bang noise mid-air as it moved.
Another grand explosion was made when the spear hit the target, making another earth tremor.
He saw that his best attack didn't even make a difference as nothing happened to the projectile.
He fell knees down as if bowing to the skies. He kept staring at the projectile intently never leaving it out of his sight.
Sst, The projectile touched the ground it didn't do any grand explosion and it just sent shockwaves.
"Huh!? A moment later new people appeared suddenly. When he said suddenly, it was instantaneously. He didn't even blink but the people were already there, he didn't notice when they appeared even though he had his eyes laid on the place. Among the people that appeared there was a small figure that he recognize because of the shock, he gave him.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM
The group of people that had appeared was blown back by the explosion that had happened. It seemed as they had appeared at bad timing.
Huh!?" He was surprised again as when they were blown back by the ever-expanding explosion they seem to recover their posture mid-air. A small figure lifted her staff and a giant green dome of light appeared, suppressing the expanding explosion.
"Huh!" He was surprised yet again but this time it was becuase of their "decisiveness". Well, that was the nicest way to put it. Becuase by doing putting a barrier shaped like a dome to suppress the explosion was like taking away the hopes to live to the ones that were trapped inside. He was terrified because he saw that the dark elf's face didn't even have any shred of remorse on it. It was like she was already accustomed to it.
The explosion kept expanding inside the dome until it filled the dome, But it didn't even shake the barrier even though it looked like it wanted to keep expanding. It seemed that the small elf could perfectly suppress something of this magnitude. When things calmed down, there was nothing inside the dome, Literally nothing.
The houses that were previously there were burned down leaving just pieces of the ruble, but no house or building was left standing. It was like this for a big area, It was almost an entire district big.
They survived but what had happened to all the people that were there. Were they burned to ashes? why did they not rescue them? Where were they that until now they appeared? So many people died, and these people that could suppress the problem didn't do anything. Why had they not done anything and left people to die?
Well...
Huh!
He fell facedown. It seemed that his body didn't hold on for much longer. The pain of using all his skills, magic, and abilities at the same time came crashing on him immediately.
He saw the darkness that was creeping on him. His vision was a blur, he felt the veins in his hands ruptured, blood came out from his orifices, he was feeling extremely lethargic.
It seemed he couldn't complete his dreams of becoming the beacon of hope for his race even though it was all over.
He couldn't hold on longer and so he let go of himself and fell into complete darkness.
--------------
In a small room that only contained the basic furniture. Like a small table with a lamp on it, besides the table, a bed was located and there was also a small wardrobe in the small room. nothing fancy.
A person was on the bed, his face was peaceful like he was in comfortable deep sleep. besides him, there were two other persons.
'Where am I? Am I in dead? So this is what feels to be dead, huh. what happened? Oh, yeah after that explosion I probably died but where am I?" Bell couldn't see anything and he was confused as to why he could calmy digest the situation. He couldn't even feel his body the only sensation he felt was as if he was floating. He could barely hear any noise.
After a while, he could make out the noises around him.
"Thanks, Miach, I don't know how to thank you enough. My bell is like this since that incident happened." Bell made out what they were saying as he was already conscious but couldn't move nor could he open his eyes.
"No problem Hestia the potions I just gave him was on the testing face. You know right, That "that" God has a contract with me, and I am sorry as this is the last time I will be able to help. Right now I am using materials that are not mine. It could mean serious problems if they find out that I have been using their materials without their permission."
'Huh, why did Miach-sama do that for me?' Bell had this question in his head as he didn't understand why this God risked himself to give him potions.
"Oh yeah. Miach do you think he could give me a job? Or maybe you could give me a job to sell potions for you. Heh, what do you say? Ask him please, I need a job urgently."
Bell was surprised when his goddess said that she needed a job urgently. Until he realized that it was probably his fault she was like this.
He imagined that his goddess didn't go to work just to stay and take care of him. She was that kind, and now they were in a difficult situation as he was in a coma and couldn't go to the dungeon either.
"Hahaha, Hestia I don't sell potions anymore, I think that I already told you that. Right now I have a contract with "that" God and I am not even making enough potion for them. He asked me if I could raise my production rate as they would need more. But maybe I could ask him if they have a job for you. Hestia, they live right in front of you why haven't you asked him for a job?"
Bell had already grasped a bit of who they were talking about as he had already seen that someone had made the crumbling buildings disappear. In place of the inhabitable buildings, there was a gigantic amount of materials. So it seemed that the building was already finished. So then how many weeks was he in a coma if the building was already built? It couldn't be a small building as the amount of materials was something that was out of the norm.
"Hahaha, Miach do you seriously think that I can just go ask him if he can give me a job. Have you seen how many people are outside their mansion? You ought to see it when you came here right. They are a lot of people wanting to enter his Familia." His goddess Hestia said " Even though he said that he will not be accepting anyone, there still are a lot of people coming to their gates every day. It's unfair how many people want to be in his Familia." Bell heard Hestia say, it sounded as if she was a bit jealous that they were going to another god and not her.
"Hestia, don't be like that, You know what happened right. They were the ones that stopped that thing. Now people consider them heroes and want to be in the same Familia as them. Also... do you know about the "Holy weapon"?" Miach said something that made Bell excited even if he was in a weird state. just the name "Holy weapon" sounded like something that came straight out from a fairy tale. So he did his best concentrating on the next words that came out.
"Holy weapon?"
"So it really seems that you don't know anything, do you. The "Holy weapon" is the projectile that was threatening to destroy Orario."
'Huh,' Bell made a surprise sound wherever his consciousness was. Why did they call a weapon that was about to decimate the whole city? Had the people finally gone crazy? maybe they couldn't deal with the stress of dying so maybe they really had gone crazy. He thought while knowing that his thoughts were a bit rude.
"Huh!? Why did they call that weapon a holy weapon then? Did people really go crazy this time? Was there fear of dying that big that they went crazy?" Hestia said almost shouting.
It seemed that his goddess had the same thinking process as him because she came to the same conclusion.
"That was what I thought at first too but it seems that there is more to the weapon than meets the eye. You see, even Hephaestus, Goibinu, and other gods that are adept at smithing wanted the weapon badly. It was said that even they had not seen a weapon like that. This was something that my child heard by chance but we don't know if it is true but I will tell you anyways. You know how magic items have a certain number of uses or "charges" before the weapons shatter into pieces or that most magic items seem to function dependently on their user and creator."
Bell had already heard about those magic weapons and he had already investigated a bit. He wanted to own a weapon like that but its price was an eye-popping amount. Even if he worked all his life he didn't think he could buy one with the amount of money he gained.
"It was said that this weapon had an aura of "Holy" fire constantly surrounding it. It doesn't affect anyone right now because the weapon is said to be inactive or dormant. Who knows though. Hephaestus and the other gods wanted the weapon but it was decided that it belonged to Ainz's Familia as they were the ones who stopped it. Most of the people were in accordance with that decision but..."
"But what Miach? what happened!?" His goddess shouted as Miach left his words hanging, even he was anxious to know what happened next.
"It was said that Ainz made a decision that went against their expectation. I don't know what decision he took but I heard people saying that they thought he would accept the weapon instantly but it seems that he didn't. Rumors then began saying he didn't accept it because he had better weapons. Although a lot of people didn't think that was the case as they saw this was a weapon sent from the heavens to help the lower world to contain the outbreaks that keep happening. It was also said that it was the ultimate weapon sent so that the destined hero could defeat the new monster that appeared in the dungeon, but who knows." Bell too thought that people were exaggerating when people said that they had weapons more powerful than the one that almost destroyed Orario.
"oh, And what do you think about the rumors Miach? You have already interacted with them a lot of times right. So you ought to know about it more than others." Hestia said in a sarcastic yet serious way
"Hestia!" He heard Miach call his goddess in a serious tone. "I will give you a piece of advice as you have been my friend since heaven. If you can, do your best to associate with them. You know about my only child right. Her hand was torn off by monsters so we had to buy a metal hand, But he lent me one of his children that was a potion maker. Do you know what happened next? She made a potion that restored her hand. Her hand literally grew back after she drank the potion made by his child. Even I, couldn't make a potion that restored the hand of my child but she did it with ease!." Miach sounded a bit intoxicated and it sounded like he was crying a bit.
"So I don't doubt by one bit that they have things superior to things that can be found and made by the gods here in Orario. Don't ask me how they did it but they have it. So I will tell you one time, associate with them and be friends with them. Things could go extremely bad if you are on bad terms with them." Bell was surprised as he heard all that Miach said, From a potion that could restore lost body parts to Items that could possibly be of higher quality than the items made by gods.
"It seems that I talked too much. I will be on my way, remember to not tell anyone about anything we talked about here today. Ainz said that the potions are just for them to use and they do not sell anything to outsiders."
pak, pak
Footsteps were heard as he said his last piece of information and left.
"AHHH" Bell heard Hestia shout and he imagined her grabbing her head as she shouted.
"Why did you have to give me those pieces of information. Now I can be in trouble. What would happen if Hephaestus asks me if I know anything About Ainz. I can't lie to her, Miach you...You..." Bell heard his goddess panicking as she talked to herself about her friend asking her something.
It seemed that Ainz was someone very fearsome. As he had kids that could make potions better than the gods and apparently could make weapons that were better quality than the Gods.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone