"That thing was something else—no wonder it wiped every last one of us out before!"
Over in one rowdy corner of the bustling main hall of the Hostess of Fertility tavern, today marked the Astrea Familia's "team outing."
Isagi felt thoroughly out of his element.
It was because there were just so many people—and nearly all of them were beautiful girls, including divine beauties like Artemis and Aphrodite. So even though they'd chosen a fairly out-of-the-way spot, they'd still ended up becoming the "center" of the entire tavern's attention.
Thankfully.
The Moon Goddess's "fearsome reputation" preceded her, and not just ordinary adventurers—even many male gods didn't dare come over to join in the fun, which made the gathering a good deal more peaceful.
Isagi sat beside Goddess Astrea.
He was the vice-captain, after all.
Glancing around the circle, watching one delicate, charming girl's face after another come into view, he couldn't help feeling a little dazed.
Himself, Cecil, Lefiya, Tiona, Haruhime, Ais, and Miss Heith (the latter two members of the adventuring party, whom he'd called over), along with Lunor Faust and Chloe, who worked part-time at the burger shop, the two goddesses Artemis and Aphrodite, and their Familia members here in the city—also several beautiful girls.
And then there was Goddess Demeter, and Alise-senpai and the others.
Ryuu-senpai included.
The eleven of old, not one of them missing—every last one gathered together.
History had already been changed. In the very moment he and Ryuu-senpai had returned from the past to the future, "the Astrea Familia was annihilated in the Dungeon, and the goddess departed the city in sorrow" had become "the Astrea Familia became the city's mainstay pillar, and even unexpectedly discovered two prodigy members, Cecil and Isagi, in Solingen——"
And after deciding to no longer venture into the Dungeon to explore, and to devote themselves to maintaining peace within the city, Alise and Kaguya had handed over the positions of captain and vice-captain to Cecil and himself.
To be honest.
Isagi felt this was a bit forced—it felt a lot like the manipulation of the great hand of [Divine Providence].
But reality was reality.
Watching the girls' smiling faces gave him the sense that there was no need to care about anything else—that as long as the ending was just like this, here and now, that was enough.
"That thing really was incredibly strong!"
Alise turned out to be a surprisingly heavy drinker, and once she'd had a few too many, she insisted on telling everyone about her life-or-death duel with the [Juggernaut] back then!
The girl's pretty face was flushed red, most likely from the alcohol's mischief, and her whole self was loud and animated as she began to holler, waving her arms about.
It had been an ordinary day, four years ago.
The girls were out on their usual patrol through the streets when they heard someone say that a terrifying enhanced-species monster had appeared in the Dungeon and was hunting down adventurers.
Floor 30.
The instant they got the intel, Alise and the others realized—this seemed to be the moment when fate would arrive.
"Go, or don't go!"
If they didn't go, then, just as Isagi and Ryuu had suggested before, as long as they never set foot in the Dungeon again, they would absolutely survive.
But.
The girls had long since chosen a different way.
And so, back then, without the slightest hesitation, they chose to head into the Dungeon to subjugate that enhanced-species monster lurking on Floor 30.
Even if it meant that in the end they would all perish, they still had to go—because if they didn't, even more people would die senseless deaths.
This was the resolve of the members of the Goddess of Justice's Familia.
An [Enhanced-Species] monster was an extremely dangerous and terrifying existence; for every minute it was allowed to remain in the Dungeon, another adventurer party might die because of it.
And so.
After several days of rapid forced marching, Alise and the others made their way from the city surface all the way down to Floor 30, and successfully found that enhanced-species monster.
"But that thing was incredibly suspicious!"
Alise had quite a talent for storytelling, full of gasps and sudden flourishes, and she quickly captured everyone's attention.
"We'd never seen anything like it, and afterward the Guild had absolutely no intel on it either. I rather suspect it might have something to do with that Tainted Spirit you all mentioned."
It had been a deep-green humanoid.
Its strength was tremendous, yet it had no desire to fight any of them. The girls had practically chased after it the whole way, only to watch helplessly as it headed off toward the deeper regions.
And as the monster departed.
Floor 30 underwent an abnormal change. Many of the giant trees and vines that had originally supported the floor withered and rotted all at once, causing the entire floor to collapse.
In that instant.
As if by destiny, accompanied by a shrill, piercing howl, an existence of unparalleled dread and horror came screaming into the world.
Alise and the others knew—everyone's fate had reached its "verdict" in that moment as well.
"That thing really was exactly like what you described."
Pitch-black all over.
Its body slender and sharp, on the whole resembling a great worm with countless claws—a big head, a small body, a speed unbelievably fast, and "weapons" all over it from head to toe, so that even being grazed by it would inflict a fatal wound.
Thankfully.
The girls had spent ever so long preparing for this very moment.
So, in the instant it appeared, without even needing to say a word, Alise, Kaguya, and Ryuu had already launched their attacks at it.
And the result was—
"Once it was over, it turned out to be unexpectedly weak."
Tilting her head.
So summarized the tipsy, red-haired girl.
But it shouldn't really be called "weak." Rather, for the longest time, they had treated the "Pale King" that Isagi transformed into as their enemy—but in truth, the [Juggernaut] that appeared on Floor 30 could not possibly have been as strong as the King of Goblins.
All the more so given that it was the King of Goblins that Isagi had transformed into at Lv. 6.
That was why such an illusion arose.
The course of the battle had actually been quite perilous, but in the end, the ones who won were them.
Here.
The one most in a daze was actually Ryuu-senpai.
Because she had traveled through time alongside him, the elf girl held many strands of memory—the original memories, and the memories produced after the new "history" had come about.
They were all interwoven.
It even gave Ryuu-senpai a certain illusion, as though she had just had some very, very long dream.
Even now—was she perhaps still dreaming?
Then Isagi gave her cheek a little pinch, telling her to stop spacing out and go have Anya bring some more drinks.
That stung a little!
No—mostly it was facing her companions' "amused" looks that left her pretty face burning hot.
But this was fine.
Ryuu thought to herself, this was how it ended.
From now on, through the long streets of the city, the girls clad in pure-white uniforms embroidered with justice, sword, and wings would patrol with heads held high, maintaining the order of this place.
That was a brand-new scene.
Or perhaps.
It was the reality that had always existed in the city of adventurers.
They were one and the same.
The only thing that nagged at Isagi was that matter Alise and the others had mentioned—that the "enhanced-species" monster they'd encountered in the Dungeon had been a deep-green humanoid creature, or rather, somewhat resembling a "Goblin."
And before this, Freya and the Loki Familia, who had once gone to attempt to subjugate the Tainted Spirit, had said the same.
In the deep levels of the Dungeon, they had encountered a powerful creature that looked like a "Goblin."
Could it be a Goblin "Xenos"?
Just one that hadn't joined Ray and the others—within the Dungeon, such Xenos existed as well.
Or else.
Perhaps it truly was connected to the Tainted Spirit...
____
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