A hazy white mist once again draped the area. The surging scarlet foxfire flickered in the air on and off, and at last guttered out.
Guren's fox ears and tail hung limp and dripping, plastered to the ground.
With both hands forming a V-sign, limbs splayed, she lay on her back staring at the sky.
Straightening his collar, Takumi lightly patted her pretty cheeks.
"Hurry up and clean it, Guren."
"Y-yes, Master~~"
Slurp~ Slurp~ Slurp~
All her tsundere prickliness was gone. Guren obediently clean up the mess.
Pop~
Takumi popped a bottle of red wine to celebrate, then immediately pulled up his status panel.
[Ding! Guren's Affection reached threshold. Defeated and copied Trait: Shapeshifting (Blue).]
"Shapeshifting… a transformation art. This is pretty handy."
Feeling the new transformation art bloom in his mind, Takumi twisted his waist—and turned into a wolf-dog.
He looked down at his four legs, then blinked and returned to human form.
"After transforming, the form really changes, and it needs mana to maintain. But my physical toughness doesn't change, and any abilities I have remain usable."
He experimented for a while longer and finally probed the limits of this ability.
He could enlarge his body up to ten times, and shrink down to the size of a palm.
He could even become a rock or a tree.
But the larger the thing he became, the more mana it consumed.
"If it's pure self-enlargement, it's like a super budget version of [Heavenly Manifestation], with tons of room to develop."
Takumi immediately placed [Shapeshifting] alongside [Beast Power], [Devour Spirit]… on his internal "Trait Potential Rankings."
Next, he planned to stockpile a wave of Fortune Progress and see what happens if he upgrades one of them to Purple quality.
Suppressing those thoughts for now, Takumi didn't hesitate—he burned Fortune Progress and reopened the Gate Between Worlds.
"Gate Between Worlds—activate!"
Another portal of space-time unfurled before him.
Before he left, Takumi swept his gaze around.
At the moment, only Guren and Anna were inside the Interdimensional Realm. Guren was simply slacking off and napping—he'd just trained her into obedience. Anna's ambition wasn't to become an adventurer; she preferred serving as Takumi's logistics.
"Anna-nee, I'll leave Guren to your care for now."
"This Pawn Piece is yours as well."
With one hand he hauled up the white-eyed Guren; with the other he offered an Evil Piece, turning Anna into his demon retainer.
Feeling the surge of power welling within her, Anna was both thrilled and, in wifely fashion, immediately took charge of Guren.
"So it's Guren-chan, huh? I didn't expect she could take human form."
Teasing Guren for a moment, Anna promptly carried her back inside to rest.
After all, having just experienced Takumi's "limit-breaking," a first-timer definitely needed a period of recuperation.
With the small matters arranged, Takumi stepped straight into the portal.
Space turned, stars wheeled. When he opened his eyes again, he stood in a wide, empty forest.
"This looks familiar… I'm afraid this is another ancient-era world."
The place he'd arrived at was practically no different from the forest where he'd met the Healer Hero last time. But Takumi could clearly sense that the free-floating mana in the air was several times—no, many times—denser than that in the Redo of Healer's world.
"This is a stronger world. First I need to figure out where I am."
He released his focus, pushing both hearing and sight to their limits.
In an instant, the scenery within a thousand li fed into his eyes like HD footage beamed to a screen.
A lone white figure moving through the forest entered Takumi's field of view.
As the Jade Eye flashed, the other party's name surfaced before him.
[Bell Cranel]
Takumi's brow ticked up. In a heartbeat, he realized this was the world of DanMachi.
A world where gods and humans coexist.
The gods voluntarily descend to the mortal realm, bestow Falna to form Familia, and seek amusement thereby.
Takumi remembered clearly—this world's moon goddess, Artemis, after being devoured by a monster, lent that monster a divine power strong enough to annihilate the human realm in a single strike.
Measured by the Main World's tiers, that was at least Sub-Dragon God–class.
And the gods here didn't even require faith; by nature they were immortal and undying.
"Can't make too big a scene… but the greater the risk, the fatter the fish. If I can copy a god's Trait…"
His gaze heated up. He wasn't about to let go of a chance to ascend in a single step.
But before that, he had to deal with Bell in front of him.
The second before he moved, Takumi's instincts screamed danger. His body froze mid-motion, and a clock-face turned within his pupils.
"[Foresight Eye]!"
In a flash, following his intended course of action, a few seconds later—at the moment he struck—a white-bearded old man would intervene.
"Zeus…"
Takumi exhaled a long breath under his voice. Realizing Bell was under Zeus's protection, he didn't give up; he dove further into deduction.
"[Foresight Eye]!" x10
Time ticked by. One future after another flickered before his eyes…
Until at last—Takumi moved.
"I, who shall awaken… am the heavenly dragon, who stole the principle of domination from God… I mock the infinite and fret over dreams… I shall become the Red Dragon of Domination. I shall down you in the depths of Crimson Purgatory! Juggernaut Drive!!"
He opened with full power. Blood-red armor, like sinew and flesh, wrapped him head to toe.
Transformed into the Red Dragon Emperor, Takumi threw back his draconic head and roared.
Roooar!!!
Power that had surged to the Main God–class in an instant shattered space, crashing outward like a tidal cataclysm.
Zeus, who had shadowed Bell all this time, saw this and moved to aid without hesitation.
He unleashed divine power at all costs, drawing down apocalyptic god-thunder to meet the blow. At the same time, a torrent of divinity flowed out, shielding the wide-eyed, bewildered Bell.
Boom!!!!
Two attacks capable of rending a continent collided—like thousands of nuclear warheads detonating in unison!!!
Mountains of quintillion tons tore free and raced outward like a collapsing tsunami. In the sky, wind, fire, and lightning braided together into a fearsome storm that spread across the entire continent.
From orbit, one could clearly see an ebon tornado of thunder scouring the land below.
At the birth of this world-ending tableau, every living thing—even those trillions of li away—felt the horror of the shockwaves.
For a time, all upon the earth, whoever they were, could not help but sink to their knees, murmuring, pleading, trembling…
At the eye of annihilation, thousands of emerald jewels lit up at once.
"Boost! Boost!! Boost!!!"
The ever-climbing aura forced Zeus back step after step—right then, as if he'd calculated the timing, Takumi moved.
"[Transfer Pain]!"
All the pain that had been stored within the Gauntlet until this very moment flooded into Zeus's body in an instant.
Even a god who had lived for who-knew-how-long shuddered from head to toe.
Takumi seized that instantary opening. The phantom of the Hundred Ghosts Codex surfaced behind him.
The coquettish figure of the Slit-Mouthed Woman merged straight into his flesh, and pitch-black mana erupted like a mountain-splitting, sea-upending deluge.
"[Domain Expansion—Phantasmal Nightmare]!"
"[Penetrate]!"
The spreading domain, guided by the Red Dragon Emperor's penetration ability, slipped right through the divine barrier.
Catching that single heartbeat of vulnerability, Takumi let the domain brush against Bell.
In that very instant, a pair of black scissors manifested—snip—and severed Bell's body.
The corrosive power coating the blades then ruthlessly stole his life away…
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.
Read 50+ chapters ahead on Patreon! [patreon.com/METARLN]
Use code FREE2ALL for 30% OFF!