Serafall was shocked when an unknown face suddenly shoved her way in, but she still answered her question, "Indeed. It's Ryuu Lion, also known as Gale."
"W-what!?", Astraea immediately tried checking her connection to Ryuu and after feeling that it was still intact, she felt a little relieved. However, the extreme concern was still there, "...Please tell me what's happening to her."
But Serafall didn't speak and instead eyed Kisuke.
Patting her shoulder to calm down, Kisuke gently moved her away and gestured that it'll be fine before turning back to Serafall, "How long do you think she'll be able to stay alive?"
"An hour at most.", answered Serafall, "Since she's a friend, Medu-chan and I could have done something to assist, however, a pretty dangerous operation is currently ongoing within our kind neighbors home and Sona-chan and the rest are part of it, so we couldn't really move away from them."
"The last news that I heard about her is that she's chasing after some remnants of the Evilus who tried to escape from the ongoing operation. Next, Adventurers of Rivira gathered their weapons to chase after her since she apparently murdered some people there. It has been half an hour since then and Medusa has been detecting several explosions below the 24th floor."
Kisuke tapped his chin and said, "So your estimation of an hour at most is because you thought a Juggernaut was about to come out?"
"Exactly~! It may have come out now, though. The good thing is that your other friends, the Miach and Takemikazuchi Familias, are on higher floors so they're safe, for now anyway."
"N-no way...", Astraea slumped and Mildred immediately went beside her to keep her up, "A Juggernaut you say..."
'Is this fate?', She recalled the past and how she received the news that aside from Ryuu, every one of her beloved children was slaughtered by a Juggernaut. Even then, she couldn't lose hope now and immediately turned back to Serafall, "If you have the power to save my child, please... Please save her!"
"Miss Goddess, as much as I wanted to help, we can't. Our priority is our family.", answered Serafall with a serious expression.
Astraea felt weak on her knees again. She didn't know how they were communicating right now, but she knew that the woman she was speaking with was currently in Orario. No matter what they did, they wouldn't be able to reach Orario in time to help her.
It was then that Serafall suddenly grinned, "But it's a different story for Yoru-chan, Kuro-chan and Ki-tan. For them, this is just a small matter, so why not ask them?"
"...What?"
Kisuke then suddenly stood up and said, "Kuroka, please prepare it."
"You're going alone?", asked Kuroka as she prepared her Magic Power for the teleportation.
Nodding, Kisuke answered, "Yep. It's my chance to return the favor I've received and I also promised that I'd do it personally. Besides, leaving things here unattended is good, for now, anyway."
Confused, Astraea tried asking what was going on, but Kisuke just gave her a large smile and said, "After this, I will have returned the favor.", before a purple Magic Circle appeared before him, making him disappear in motes of light.
While everyone from Astraea Familia was in shock at what just happened, Astraea herself understood it, "Transposition?"
"Yep.", Yoruichi answered after sipping her tea, "He's in Orario now."
Immediately after her words, Kisuke appeared beside Serafall on the hologram, saying, "Please wait for the good news~!", before disconnecting.
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Sitting on the highest point within Daedalus Street, Serafall was overlooking one of the entrances to the Knossos while watching the real-time feed that came from inside, when Kisuke appeared beside her, "Been a while, Sera-tan~! Hope you're doing good!"
But instead of a smile, Serafall glared at him, "You have to explain what's going on with Sona-chan!"
Kisuke immediately backed up and smiled wryly while raising his hands in surrender, "I'll do that and also do a complete check on her. But you can be assured that it's not as dangerous as you think it is."
"Hmph! That better be the case!"
"Anyway, how is this operation going?", Kisuke immediately changed the subject while looking at the feed.
"Although they're making great progress, the enemy has already made their preparation and they're already too late, so chances are, they are going to fail."
"Hmm... Anyway, can you teleport me to the 24th floor?"
Serafall shook her head, "I can't. The Dungeon is too sensitive right now and I have a feeling that any kind of spatial transfer would make things worse for everyone."
"But you won't hesitate to do it when they're in danger, Sona-chan and the girls, that is."
Serafall put her hands on her waist and puffed her chest, "That's obvious! If something came out of the Dungeon after doing so, I'd just deal with it myself!"
"That's reassuring, but it looks the next best choice is to go through this man-made Dungeon since that'll take less time.", Kisuke then jumped down towards the entrance and waved goodbye to Serafall, "I'll see you later~"
"Be sure to get those Crystal Drops on your way back! Ophis-chan, Claire-chan and Tan-chan really like those and we're about to run out!"
"Got it!"
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On the 9th floor of the Knossos, an intense battle was ongoing with a group of Adventurers led by Finn fighting a Demi-Spirit that parasitized a Human formerly known as Barca and a current-generation Daedalus.
As Finn and the other vanguards couldn't deal any substantial damage to it without exposing themselves to danger, they could only defend the rear that was preparing for a large attack, from its attacks which were full of curses.
However, the tides of the battle suddenly changed when the eastside wall of the circular room they were fighting in suddenly exploded to pieces. A familiar man with a bucket hat and a cane in his hand came running out of the dust and debris, "Excuse me~! Coming through! I'm sorry for the disturbance~!"
Due to the suddenness and how ridiculous the situation was, even the monsterized Barca momentarily stopped its attack, trying to figure out what was going on with its almost dysfunctional head.
The man in question, meanwhile, just ran towards the opposite end of the room while ignoring everyone. Similar to what he has done until now, he punched a hole through a wall several feet thick which was made out of very rare and hard metal, leaving the scene.
Of course, not everyone was stunned as the girls of the Loki Familia already saw something far more ridiculous than that. Thanks to the disturbance that Kisuke created, Tiona and Tione were able to creep behind the monster and used their full power to smash its head open, creating an opening to reach the mutated Magic Crystal in its body.
Although the Demi-Spirit was shocked, it wasn't because of the scene that the strange man created, but the feeling he was giving off. It was as if it saw its natural enemy that made it freeze in fear.
After defeating the Demi-Spirit, Tiona waved towards the hole where the man left and shouted, "Thanks for the disturbance~!"
Editors:
28th00: Ah, he has to cause chaos wherever he goes! He absolutely did that to help them out too, wasn’t even attempting to be sneaky either, huh? Time to save Ryuu~!
Alexander: Keep fighting, there is nothing to see here. Just your average store keeper on a little digestion walk. By the way, please recommend the candy store to your friends. We have excellent customer service, last minute rescues are included.
As he went through the 9th floor where Finn and the rest were fighting, Kisuke felt the strange reaction of the monster towards him, which made him think that even though Deities couldn't tell anything, those Spirit hybrids seem to be able to sense that something was different with him, 'Hmm... Is it because they are beings that devour others that makes them very sensitive? And I wonder who created these things? I'm sure it isn't the Dungeon itself or the one who contacted me. Most likely, it's someone who hijacked a small part of the Dungeon's system.'
Not long after, Kisuke got through the 10th and 11th floors in no time and reached the 12th floor. After demolishing a few walls with his bare hands, he came upon a room where the Loki Familia members led by Riveria and Ais were having a standoff with the red-haired Creature.
But before he could greet everyone, the Creature suddenly lunged at him with fear on her face and brandished her greatsword with her full power, intending to cleave Kisuke in half.
But despite shattering the floor below them, Kisuke easily caught the greatsword with his hand. The fear and despair on the Creature's face consolidated Kisuke's initial guess that they could somehow tell that something was different about him.
Not dwelling on these thoughts any longer, Kisuke tugged and snatched the Creature's greatsword and gave her a roundhouse kick towards her stomach. The Creature tried blocking it with both of her arms, but it was for naught as both of them broke and didn't even mitigate the force behind the kick, sending her flying back and crashing into the wall.
Tossing the greatsword to the side, Kisuke resumed running while waving at Riveria and Ais, "It has been a while, Riveria-san, Wallenstein-san and the rest of Loki Familia. It's a shame that I can't stay and talk since I'm in a hurry, but I wish you good luck with your endeavours~!"
Since the Creature wasn't his problem, Kisuke chose to leave her alone.
Kisuke reached the other side of the wall and demolished it, revealing the staircase which led towards the 13th floor. But before he left the stunned people, Kisuke first said, "It would be a good idea to leave now."
After he left, Ais immediately turned towards the Creature, Revis, however, she was already nowhere in sight. She tried to chase after her, but Riveria immediately stopped her as it wouldn't be good if she separated from the group. In any case, their mission was to hold Revis back and Kisuke did it for them, "Let's regroup with Finn and Gareth. They should have already reached the Evilus' main room."
Ais nodded but as they ran, she suddenly asked, "Why does he keep calling me with my last name?"
Everyone momentarily stopped their steps, but immediately resumed their pace, except for one Hume Bunny girl who couldn't read the mood, "Isn't it because he wanted to keep his distance from you?"
Ais looked at her with widened eyes while the Hume Bunny continued, "I mean look, even though not completely casual, he still calls Riveria-sama by her first name, yet when it comes to you, it's always your last name."
Ais then recalled when Sona told her that Kisuke saw her as an annoying brat and without her knowing, she ended up pouting her mouth and murmuring while turning away from the group, "...I don't care... I'm just an annoying brat anyway."
The girl looked at others as she found Ais' reaction confusing and intriguing, "Eh? Did I say something wrong?", however, nobody answered her.
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As he got through the 13th floor, Kisuke heard Sona, Koneko, Aika, Akeno and Irina's voice and contemplated whether or not he should meet them but instantly decided against it, 'They'll be fine.'
From then on, there were no more eventful happenings for him within the Knossos until he reached the 18th floor and exited through there. As he reached the 25th where the Water City started, Kisuke immediately noticed the traces of large explosions that damaged the floor enough for a Juggernaut to spawn, 'I should hurry up.'
Directly jumping down the Great Fall that connected the 25th, 26th and 27th floors together, it didn't take too long for Kisuke to locate the Juggernaut and Adventurers scattered on the ground, both dead and alive. The rescue target was nowhere in sight. Though he did notice a newly created hole in the ground.
'Alright, time to test it out~' While thinking that, Kisuke pointed his finger towards the Juggernaut and chanted, "Hadou no 4, Byakurai."
He rotated his energy according to a new design which he created to cast Shinigami spells and successfully converted his energy for his intended purpose. However, as lightning emerged from his fingertip, the energy inside him suddenly became an untamed wild horse, rushing through everywhere.
Kisuke hurriedly tried taking back his energy and canceling his Kidou, but he wasn't able to control it anymore, 'Crap!'
A beam of white light pierced through the 27th floor, grazing the Juggernaut and creating another hole in the ground. But even though it was just a graze, a third of the Juggernaut still disappeared into oblivion, forever annihilated.
Kisuke, on the other hand, dropped down with blood seeping through his orifices and his right arm entirely gone, 'I already expected a backlash, but I didn't expect it to be this much. If I'm not careful, I might just blow myself up.'
It was only a minute later that Kisuke was able to calm the energies inside him and move again, albeit a bit rigid. But instead of finishing off the wailing and retreating Juggernaut, he instead walked towards one of the Adventurers laying on the ground that was still alive. With a large smile on his face, he asked, "Excuse me~ May I ask which direction Gale went?"
For Mord, however, the smiling arm-less bloody-faced man was far more terrifying than the Juggernaut. Still, he was able to gather enough courage to answer. Carefully monitoring and controlling his bladder for him not to leak, he slowly pointed towards the hole that Kisuke noticed when coming down, "O-o-over there... T-the Lambton ate her..."
Kisuke's expression became serious and said, "Thanks.", before running towards the said hole and jumping in it. Although the Lambton, a 5-meter wide and 10-meter long snake which was officially known as Worm Well, could dig and travel through the Dungeon, it didn't mean that it just left the holes unfilled.
A few meters after his jump, Kisuke landed. However, the ground was soft enough that he would be able to follow the monster's digging path. Without further ado, he dived to the soft ground, propelling himself with the still unstable energy.
Editors:
28th00: His arm went BOOM, huh? Scary scary, I mean, he literally SCARED The Juggernaut away… It was also missing a third of its body though, so that might’ve helped a bit.
Alexander: The missing third is BECAUSE of his Kido. Also, does the Lambton dig like an actual worm? Because that would mean that Kisuke is literally digging through huge masses of monster poop. I hope that he has a barrier around him, or at least a very good shampoo.