章 318: CH. 325: Flag

Tiona and Tione ran rampant in the typical style of amazonian warriors. Finn darted around like a supercharged bolt of lightning. Every one of his attacks either crippled or instantly killed his target. Ais's Ariel was in full bloom, tearing through the dragons. Gareth was swinging dragons around with their tails, bashing them against each other. Ryuu sprinted from dragon to dragon, taking less than ten seconds in dispatching the dragons with her boosted attack power from sprint. Bete wasn't shying from a frontal fight, despite his body soaked in his and the dragon's blood. Aki was cutting down any attack that approached the elf trio of Riveria, Lefiya, and Alicia. The said elf trio dedicated everything to support their allies. Perhaps it was the euphoria of exploring the uncharted territories or being in the first battle they were truly contributing, the adventurers were giving their all.

The worst was Alise, who showed no fear and charged everywhere with her sword. She was the ultimate challenge, which the dragons failed to overcome.

Even without Asahi's help, the Valgang dragons were dropping like flies.

The battle raged for about an hour before the dungeon stopped sending any reinforcements.

"It's finally over." Asahi breathed a sigh of relief. With Alise's suicidal mode, he had filled 25% of his XP bar.

Everyone collected the drop items such as the dragon fang and its red scales. Asahi tossed everything in the ring and gave a little pat to Ais.

"You did well handling your darkness."

The corners of her mouth rose almost imperceptibly. Having her hard work recognized by someone felt nice.

"Thank you… Onii-san."

Only she knew the meaning behind her words of gratitude. Alise tugged at his shirt and leaned to his side.

"You aren't thinking of taking Ais too… are you?"

"What if I am?" He turned to her with a grin. "I have to look for others if you can't give me what I want."

"You… what do you want?"

"You know it," he teased, sliding his hand down to her supple butt, and giving it a little squeeze. "This."

Alise fell speechless by his shameless teasing. She thought the promise of marriage would keep him away, giving her time to prepare her heart. But that didn't seem to be the case.

Asahi removed his hand, not before squeezing her butt another time. "I was joking. Jeez, look at you so scared."

"…I am not scared," she muttered. "I'll show you!"

His words stirred her heart. Rising on her toes, she took his face and pressed her lips against his. Asahi hid his surprise and wrapped his arms behind her for support. Doing her best to filter the eyes on her back, Alise sloppily shoved her tongue in his mouth. Alise didn't know what she was doing, but she was becoming more and more fond of the act of kissing.

Riveria and Ryuu, who were approaching them, stopped in their tracks. Riveria made eye contact with Ryuu.

"I don't understand your relationship…" Riveria said. "I heard your goddess became his lover, and now your captain. He already has other girls... it looks odd."

"It doesn't," Ryuu said, squashing her voice to the lowest. "From an outsider's perspective."

Alise pulled back, breathless, and traces of tears in her eyes. Asahi couldn't help but pull her in for a short, rough kiss. She glanced at the silver trail connecting their lips and blushed.

"Don't call me a coward again."

"As you wish."

Ais tilted her head. "Onii-san, Lovell-san, are you sharing the potion?"

Ais had never seen a kiss before, so she came to a logical conclusion about them sharing a healing potion through a mouth to mouth.

Alise nodded with a serious expression. "Yes. It was our family's secret healing potion."

She couldn't bear to taint this pure loli with the knowledge of a kiss.

Asahi chuckled and patted Ais's head. "You'll know it someday."

"Ais, Asahi, Alise-san, you three were wonderful," Riveria said as she walked toward him with Ryuu.

She wasn't the one to praise others, but she felt like these three deserved some pleasant words.

"Lion!" Alise grabbed Ryuu and headed to explore the floor.

"Mom, I appreciate your compliments."

Riveria clenched her fists, seriously wondering if punching Asahi would hurt him or not.

"You need something?" Asahi asked.

"Potions."

Asahi searched through his ring. Riveria described what she was looking for, mainly high potion, magic potion, and dual potion. High potion for healing, the magic potion for simple magic restoration, and dual potion for both magic restoration and healing.

Finn returned from his exploration with Gareth and walked up to Riveria. "We found a monster-free room up ahead. A decent place to rest before the next floor."

Asahi lightly clapped Alise's buttcheeks before he followed Finn and others to the room. It was a small, dark room, so Asahi brightened the room with several orbs of floating fire. A hole could be seen in the wall; everyone instinctively knew where it would lead.

59th floor.

Zeus Familia called it the Glacial Territories. Frozen lands with soaring white mountains and frozen rivers. The bitterly cold wind blew all around, enough to affect a level 5 adventurer. They had all come prepared with clothes and armor made from salamander wool.

The adventurer party began celebrating, drinking potions like a mug of delicious ale. It was an odd but suitable sight for the adventurers, who worked their asses off day in and day out of the dungeon. Asahi watched them sitting in a corner of the room with Alise and Ryuu sandwiching him. Finn and Riveria discussed the lack of coldness despite them sitting in front of the Glacial Territories. Not even a breeze.

'There comes the flag.'

Asahi turned to Ryuu. "Wanna talk about what happened?"

Ryuu sighed as she pulled up her knees and hugged them. Her head was aching from the overuse of magic power. "I used too much magic power..."

He plopped his hand on her head and rubbed her blonde hair. The elf felt the warmth sinking in, and easing her pain. In a matter of moments, her pain vanished. Giving a cheerful smile, she nodded.

"Thank you."

Her debt for him kept piling up, and she had no way of ever repaying him.

'There is one way… my ears.'

She couldn't help but blush at the thought.

'I'm not trying to take him away from Alise!'

Asahi saw Ryuu blushing while thinking something. He looked at Lefiya, who sat alongside Aki, holding her face in her hands. She sometimes blushed, sometimes grinned, all while keeping her eyes on Ais.

'Are all elves delusional pervs?'

(Maybe they are horny!)

'A horny elf in a dungeon, that's bad. Really bad!'

The party rested for less than an hour. After everyone equipped their weapons, Finn reestablished their formations. Looking at the void in the wall, he rubbed his twitching thumb.

Asahi placed a hand on Finn's small shoulder. "No need to be tense."

"I know," Finn said, gripping the spear tight.

With a demigod's support, they could safely retreat if the monsters were above their expectations. Going forward was the only option.

"I'll lead."

Asahi took the helm with his golden-tipped spear and descended the stairs.