At the cost of half of Rakia's population, Celua resurrected Alfia of the Hera Familia.
Currently, Celua and Alfia were flying toward Orario, each riding atop a bird-type monster cloaked in Mist Flames.
"To think you were a Tamer as well," Alfia remarked.
A Tamer was an individual possessing the incredibly rare ability to tame and command Dungeon monsters.
"I'm not. This is a proprietary technology exclusive to me."
Celua had successfully developed a revolutionary system to convert living monsters into Box Weapons, creating what she called Box Monsters. Furthermore, because the bird monsters were cloaked in Mist Flames, they blended perfectly into the sky, rendering them invisible to both humans and other monsters.
"So, how is the flight?" Celua asked cheerfully.
"I am riding atop a wretched monster. It is absolutely dreadful."
"And here I went out of my way to prepare a comfortable trip just for you."
"Then you should not have resurrected me in the first place."
"When you put it like that, I really don't have a comeback~."
"More importantly, did you prepare this equipment?"
"Zealo prepared that. I don't really get it, but apparently, any mage could tell at a glance that those robes possess an absurd amount of magic resistance. Zealo might have been pathetically weak, but he was a mage, so he probably knew what he was doing."
"It is incredibly aggravating to be so thoroughly understood by such a repulsive creature."
"Ah, but don't worry. I was the one who changed your clothes."
"Do you honestly believe I would find comfort in knowing the person who crushed my internal organs undressed me?"
"Could you stop hitting me with perfectly sound logic?"
"You should consider yourself lucky I am not hitting you with my fists."
"Ooh. So scary."
Even knowing Alfia couldn't defy her, the murderous intensity radiating from the woman caused a bead of cold sweat to run down Celua's cheek.
"Put me down here."
"Eh? We're still a fair distance away from Orario."
"If we are this close, I can reach it in no time on foot. Besides, I do not wish to spend another second in your presence."
"Yes, yes. Understood."
Even if Alfia tried to run, Celua knew her coordinates and could sever her consciousness remotely. Feeling secure, Celua ordered the monsters to descend.
"I'll be watching from a safe distance, so feel free to go absolutely wild and slaughter them all," Celua cheered.
She recalled the monster Alfia had been riding back into its Box. The instant Alfia's boots touched the ground, she unleashed her full Status and vanished in a blur of motion.
"So fast!?"
The sheer speed shattered Celua's expectations, forcing a shocked yelp from her throat.
"I need to catch up."
Realizing the battle might be over before she arrived to watch the main event, Celua urged her monster back into the sky to chase after Alfia.
─────
Meanwhile, Tsuna and the others were cleaning up the battlefield.
"Now we just need to separate the usable weapons from the broken ones."
"Eh? Why?" Tsuna asked.
"The blacksmith Familias requested that we recover any weapons that are still usable or only need minor repairs," Shakti explained.
"I get it. They recover the weapons the Rakian soldiers dropped when they fled, polish them up, and resell them in Orario to double their profits."
Hearing Shakti's explanation, Reborn deduced the ruthless economics driving the weapon sorting.
"But isn't sorting through tens of thousands of weapons a massive pain…?" Tsuna groaned, looking at the mountains of steel.
"Well, without the blacksmith Familias, we adventurers wouldn't be able to fight at all. And since we have a bad habit of breaking their weapons and causing them endless headaches, we can't really complain when they ask for a favor…" Welf muttered, scratching the back of his head guiltily.
As adventurers, weapon degradation was an inescapable reality. Without blacksmiths, fighting at full strength was impossible. Furthermore, Orario was the City of Heroes. Countless hopefuls flocked to the city every day, meaning the demand for repairs and maintenance was literally endless.
Because the Loki Familia was the city's largest faction and spent most of their time fighting horrific monsters in the deep floors, their weapon turnover rate was astronomical. Tione, in particular, shattered her weapons so frequently that the Goibniu Familia's smiths had branded her 'The Crusher.'
"!?"
Suddenly, Finn's thumb began to throb with an unprecedented intensity. Seconds later, a deafening explosion echoed from a battlefield in the distance.
"W-What was that!?" Tsuna yelled, startled by the sudden blast.
"That's coming from the Freya Familia's position… Did a fight break out between their own members?" Shakti asked, calmly analyzing the situation.
"No… something has happened. A terrifying threat has arrived…" Finn muttered, his face completely pale.
"Is it aching…?" Tsuna asked.
"Yes… intensely. …Shakti. Return to the city immediately and bolster its defenses…"
"…Understood."
Seeing the dread on Finn's face, Shakti realized a catastrophe was unfolding. She turned and sprinted back toward Orario without another word.
"Given the timing, that bastard Celua might be involved," Reborn said, his eyes narrowing.
"Eh!? Then…!?"
"Hurry, Tsuna. We can't let this chance slip away."
"Right!!"
─────
Meanwhile, at the Freya Familia's encampment, where the adventurers had also been handling post-war cleanup. The battle had already begun. The ground was littered with the unconscious bodies of Freya Familia elites, all routed by Alfia.
"[Fight on eternally, immortal lightning soldiers] — [Caurus Hildr]!!"
Hedin unleashed a massive swarm of lightning arrowheads, bombarding Alfia from all directions simultaneously.
"[Ataraxia]."
Alfia softly chanted her magic. The moment the devastating lightning strikes touched her body, they harmlessly dissipated into mist.
[Silentium Eden]. It was an enchantment magic that cloaked her entire body. Its effect was absolute magic nullification. While this spell was active, no offensive magic could harm her.
He wasn't trying to damage me. He was trying to blind me… Alfia realized.
Knowing his magic couldn't piece her defense, Hedin had intentionally used the explosive flashes of lightning solely to obscure her vision.
"[Gospel]."
Alfia murmured her second spell. A massive, invisible shockwave erupted from her position, blowing away the smoke and dust Hedin had generated.
[Satanas Verion]. It was an offensive spell that fired hyper-condensed blocks of sound. Despite requiring an ultra-short chant, it possessed apocalyptic destructive power and a vast area of effect. Furthermore, because sound was entirely invisible, dodging it was virtually impossible, making it one of the most terrifying spells in existence.
As the smokescreen cleared, the Gulliver Brothers launched a coordinated aerial assault from above, while Hogni struck from her blind spot, his blade completely silent.
"[Rugio]."
""""Guh!!""""
"Gah!?"
The lingering sound magic violently detonated. The Gulliver Brothers and Hogni were instantly blasted away by the concussive force.
[Satanas Verion] was not merely a sound blast. By chanting the secondary trigger, [Rugio], Alfia could remotely detonate the residual sound magic lingering in the area. The explosion carried the exact same apocalyptic power as the initial cast. It was a flawless, two-stage trap devoid of weaknesses.
Now!! Hedin lunged forward, swinging Dísaria—a masterpiece that functioned flawlessly as both a longsword and a magic-amplifying staff.
Since his magic was nullified, the only way to inflict damage was through physical, close-quarters combat. Hedin had intentionally used Hogni and the Gulliver Brothers as sacrificial pawns to slip into her inner guard. With ruthless precision, he swept his blade at Alfia's neck.
"Too slow."
"Guh…!?"
In the blink of an eye, Alfia vanished, reappearing directly behind Hedin. She drove a brutal knife-hand strike into his back, simultaneously snatching Dísaria from his grip with her left hand.
"Did you honestly believe you could kill me while leaking that much bloodlust?"
"Gah!?"
The instant Hedin fell, Allen—the fastest man in the city—charged from behind at top speed, thrusting his spear forward to impale her. Without even turning around, Alfia simply leaned her upper body to the left, dodging the lethal thrust by a millimeter. She clamped her right arm down, trapping Allen's spear arm against her side, and flawlessly drove the stolen Dísaria straight through Allen's abdomen with her left hand.
"Alfia…!?"
Hearing the commotion, Ottar arrived on the scene, only to find the entirety of his elite executives utterly routed. Seeing the woman standing amidst the carnage, his eyes widened in absolute shock.
"The fact that you are still breathing means you managed to defeat Zard and ascend your vessel," Alfia noted coldly.
"Impossible…!? You are supposed to be dead…!?"
"I was resurrected. Much to my displeasure."
"Resurrected…!?"
"Such trivial matters are irrelevant. It has been seven years since my death. What exactly have you been doing? To think you are the only one who has managed to reach the level I stood at back then. Do you honestly believe you can defeat the Black Despair with such pathetic stagnation?"
"!?"
Alfia unleashed a suffocating wave of killing intent. Ottar instantly raised his greatsword, but Alfia had already crossed the distance, stepping deep into his guard.
"Ho. You blocked it."
So fast!? Don't tell me… she [Ranked Up]!? Ottar had brought his greatsword up just in time, catching Alfia's knife-hand strike on the broad side of the blade.
During her life, Alfia had been Level 7, exactly the same level Ottar was now. While Agility stats naturally varied between individuals of the same level, her current speed was far too monstrous to be explained by minor stat differences. Ottar instantly concluded that Alfia had leveled up.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!"
"!?"
The moment Ottar unleashed a thunderous roar, Alfia immediately leaped backward. Though his physical appearance hadn't changed, she sensed a terrifying shift in his aura.
"Beastification, is it."
Beastification was a rare physiological phenomenon unique to certain beast-people. When activated, it released their primal combat instincts and drastically enhanced their physical capabilities. If an adventurer capable of Beastification received a Falna, the ability often manifested as a Skill.
In Ottar's case, it manifested as the skill [Vana Arganture]. By unleashing the feral beast residing within his blood, he gained an explosive surge in physical strength, applying an ultra-high correction boost to all of his basic abilities. While other beast-people required specific conditions to trigger Beastification, Ottar could activate his entirely at will, regardless of the time or place. The sheer magnitude of the boost was so overwhelming it effectively simulated a temporary [Rank Up]. However, it carried a severe drawback: while active, his Stamina and Mind drained at an alarming rate, making prolonged use impossible.
Forcibly elevating his stats to the realm of Level 8, Ottar launched a relentless, earth-shattering barrage of slashes. Yet, Alfia effortlessly weaved through the storm of steel.
"Do not swing a sword if you cannot even graze me."
Alfia possessed a unique skill called [Gif Blessing]. It was a catastrophic anomaly born from the incurable disease she had suffered from since birth. The skill guaranteed a permanent Limit Off state, passively maximizing all of her stats. The price, however, was devastating: it induced a constant state of combat-induced agony, triggering spasms, poison, paralysis, and organ failure. While active, it semi-permanently drained her overall abilities, Stamina, and Mind.
However, having been cured of her illness and freed from those crippling constraints, Alfia's true, unbridled power was completely beyond Ottar's reach.
"[Gospel]."
"Gah!?"
Caught point-blank by the sonic detonation, Ottar was violently blown away. However, he managed to twist his body mid-air and land on his feet.
"You endured that?"
"Haa… Haa…"
Ottar's Endurance stat had been trained to the absolute limit, and it was further amplified by his Beastification. Because of that, he had miraculously managed to withstand the blast, though he was heavily damaged.
If I can just land a single blow… In terms of Magic and Agility, he was completely outmatched. But in raw Strength and Endurance, Ottar held the overwhelming advantage. If he sacrificed his defense to land one full-power, suicidal strike, he still had a chance to win. However, with his Stamina rapidly draining from his skill, he had to end the fight immediately. Yet, against an opponent of Alfia's caliber, forcing a quick conclusion was nearly impossible, a fact Ottar knew better than anyone.
"I assume you are planning to force a short decisive battle. But do you honestly believe you can achieve that while facing a true irregularity?"
Sensing Ottar's desperation, Alfia raised her hand to cast her next spell.
"!?"
Before she could chant, Tsuna descended from the sky like a meteor, driving a hyper-accelerated kick directly toward her head. Alfia casually raised her right arm, blocking the devastating impact without taking a single step back.
"Who are you?" Alfia asked coldly.
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