"These scorpions have venom sacs. The poison's nasty—avoid close-quarters as much as possible."
After dissecting the Black Scorpion monsters, Rethusa warned everyone with a grim look. Artemis nodded and followed up immediately.
"Alright. Pack everything up. We'll rest here, then move out again."
For hunters, rest wasn't optional—it was survival. Only in perfect condition could they face whatever waited ahead.
While everyone settled in, Rethusa couldn't help thinking about Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty they'd run into yesterday. Curiosity finally won.
"Artemis-sama… why are you so against love?"
Artemis answered calmly, like she'd repeated the line a thousand times.
"I won't force my rules on you. If you want a partner, leave the Familia. I won't stop you."
The campsite went dead silent.
The girls looked at one another. A quiet sadness seeped into the air. They were vibrant, restless, full of youth—of course they thought about romance. But hearing Artemis draw such a hard boundary still hurt. None of them wanted to leave their Familia… and none of them wanted to spend their lives alone, either.
Then Lante—half-elf, blue-haired, stubborn as ever—leaned forward, eyes fixed on Artemis.
"Artemis-sama… why do you avoid love between men and women?"
"Lante, stop—"
Rethusa tried to cut her off, but Lante barreled on anyway, voice rising.
"Please tell me! I care!"
Every head turned. Under the weight of nineteen pairs of eyes, Artemis finally spoke.
"Because it's me. I can only say this much." Her gaze lowered slightly. "I am a goddess who presides over chastity. If I… if I did that… then I would no longer be me."
Lante heard it—heard the ache tucked behind those words. She shut her eyes tight, then blurted it out like it was the simplest truth in the world.
"Then Artemis-sama should experience love too!"
Artemis blinked, visibly thrown off, and Lante kept going—earnest, heated, almost desperate.
"I don't even know what it's like myself, but I still feel it! When I read stories—when a hero saves a girl—my heart moves. I… I want you to know that kind of happiness too!"
It wasn't pity. It wasn't sympathy.
It was the kind of love a daughter gives a mother—an instinctive need to share something beautiful with the person who raised her.
And the moment Lante said it, the others couldn't hold back anymore.
The campsite erupted.
One girl rubbed her cheek shyly. Another looked like she'd swallowed something painfully sweet. Someone else smiled softly, like an old memory had wrapped its arms around her. Nineteen voices overlapped, animated and bright, all of them echoing the same longing in different ways.
Artemis stared at them—angry, stunned… and somehow shaken.
Her eyes slid to the only one who hadn't spoken yet.
"Rethusa. Do you feel the same?"
Rethusa froze. Her cheeks tinted pink, and she fumbled for words before forcing herself to meet Artemis's gaze.
"I-I… I mean, I've never been in love either, just like everyone else." She swallowed. "But… people change—before love, and after it. That's real."
When she finally smiled, it was gentle and honest, like she was admitting something to herself as much as to her goddess.
And for the first time, Artemis wavered.
She lifted her eyes to the sky, and in that quiet stretch of blue, a thin, unfamiliar thread of yearning tugged at her.
"An unchanging god…" she murmured, half-question, half-prayer. "Do you think one can change?"
Right beside her, Lante's face lit up.
"You can. You will. I know it!"
"…Is that so?"
Artemis lowered her gaze and looked at the girls—really looked at them. Then she smiled.
"If you all believe that… perhaps love truly is something precious." Her tone softened, but the leader in her returned a heartbeat later. "That said, we've talked long enough. You've rested. We move now."
She stood.
"Our destination is the hidden sanctuary within the Great Tree Labyrinth—the Elsos Ruins!"
They set off again, only to find the Black Scorpion monsters crawling out of the forest in endless waves. After hunting down several dozen, they finally reached their target.
"These scorpions… they're coming out of the ruins."
"Could this place connect to the Dungeon?"
"Either way, assume the worst. We're going in."
At Rethusa's order, the entire Artemis Familia tightened formation and slipped into the ancient ruins.
Artemis paused at the entrance. At the heart of the ruin stood a goddess statue holding a bow—eerily familiar. Old memories flickered behind her eyes. This place had ties to her past… which was exactly why she'd accepted the locals' request.
And the moment they breached deeper into the ruins—a man appeared in the sky above the forest.
"My speed isn't bad," Takumi muttered, exhaling as he tracked their movement below. "Looks like I made it."
He'd lost time along the way—thanks to Kali—but at least he wasn't too late.
"Help! Somebody help!!"
Screams from the forest edge snapped his attention away. Farmers—clueless that the woods had already been infested—had wandered in to hunt and gather, only to be chased down by swarms of Black Scorpions.
Takumi's eyes went cold. His hands formed a seal.
"Ten Shadows Technique—Ninja Shadow."
In the sunlight, his shadow on the ground twisted like it had lungs. It split—multiplied—spilling out hundreds upon hundreds of shadow shinobi.
They burst from every patch of darkness, moving like knives in a storm. Shuriken flashed. Kunai bit. Some went in with short blades and clubs, striking fast and dirty.
Each shadow soldier was easily mid–upper-tier in raw power, and against these scorpions, it wasn't even a fight.
In just a few breaths, the forest outskirts were cleared—thousands of monsters reduced to corpses.
The farmers collapsed, sobbing thanks as they kowtowed, then fled for their lives.
Hovering overhead, Takumi absorbed the faint killing aura that lingered in the wake of the slaughter. His presence ticked upward by a hair.
"These scorpions aren't even worth absorbing," he said flatly, eyes narrowing toward the ruins. "The real prize is inside."
His gaze locked onto the deepest point of the Elsos Ruins.
A presence was stirring—an anti-god creature forged by the Dungeon itself, a divine assassin designed to punish the gods.
Antares.
Takumi wanted that trait.
If he could take anti-god and make it his… then even killing gods would become a whole lot easier.